They were nearing the village's edge. Behind them, Enri heard the clanking of metal—and at a regular pace, too. Praying to all the gods she could think of, she glanced back. As she'd thought, the worst-case scenario had happened: a knight was chasing them. But we're so close! She wanted to hurl the words in frustration, but she held them back. She didn't have any energy to waste. She took ragged breaths one after the other. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it would explode; her legs shook and it felt like she might run out of strength and collapse to the ground at any moment. If she had been alone, she probably would have despaired and lost the energy to run. Her little sister, whose hand she held, gave her strength. Yes, the wish to save Nemu's life was the only thing keeping Enri going now.

She threw another glance over her shoulder as they ran. The distance between them had not changed much. Despite the armour, the knight wasn't slowing. The difference between a trained knight and a village girl was painfully clear. She was sweating and her entire body was assailed by a coldness. At this rate, she wouldn't be able to escape with Nemu.

"Let go of her hand," she heard a voice say. "You might be able to make it on your own." "Do you want to die here?" "It might be safer to split up."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" She ground her teeth and gasped a rebuke at herself. I'm the worst big sister. Nemu looks like she's about to cry, so how come she doesn't? It was because she believed in Enri. She believed her big sister would save her.

Clasping the hand that gave her the energy to run and the courage to fight, Enri thought, Who could abandon a sister like this?!

"Agh!" If Enri was severely fatigued, Nemu was completely exhausted. She cried out as she tripped and nearly fell. The reason she didn't fall was that the two of them were connected by their tightly held hands. But having to pull her threw Enri off-balance as well.

"Hurry!"

"I-I am!"

But when they tried to run again, Nemu's leg cramped up and wouldn't move right. When Enri panicked and went to pick her up, she realised in horror that the knight was right next to them.

The sword the knight held was slick with blood. And that wasn't all. His armour and helmet had both been splattered. Enri stared the knight down, shielding Nemu.

"There's no point in resisting." There was no tenderness in his words. They were said with more of a sneer. His slimy tone seemed to imply that he could kill them either way. Enri's chest burned with rage. What is he talking about?! The knight slowly raised his sword. Faster than he could cut her down, Enri smashed her fist into his iron helmet as hard as she could. "You think I'm that easy?!"

"Gwah!"

She'd put all her anger, and all of her will to protect her sister, into her fist. She wasn't scared of hitting metal. It'd been a punch that contained her whole body and soul. She heard the crunch of bone, and the pain shot through her entire body a moment later. The knight staggered from the impact.

"Let's go!"

"Yeah!"

Bearing the pain, they were just starting to run when Enri felt something red-hot on her back. "Ngh!"

"You little—!"

The humiliation of having underestimated a village girl must have made the knight angry. What had saved her, in fact, was that he'd lost his composure and swung so carelessly. But now she'd run out of luck. She was injured and the knight was mad. The next blow would surely be fatal. Enri glared bitterly at the sword raised over her head. She could look at it with the sternest expression in the world, but its ominous sparkle told her two things. One: In a few seconds, she would almost certainly die. Two: As a mere village girl, there was nothing she could do to escape.

There was a bit of her own blood on the tip of his sword. It reminded her of the awful pain spreading out from the wound with each beat of her heart and the hot sensation she'd felt when she'd been cut. She'd never been in this much pain before, and it scared her so much she felt sick. If I throw up, maybe the burning in my chest will go away, too… But Enri was trying to find a way to survive. She didn't have time to vomit. Although she was nearly discouraged, there was one reason she couldn't give in to despair: the warmth in her heart for her sister. I have to at least save Nemu.

That thought didn't allow giving up as a choice, but the knight in full plate armour blocking their path sneered at her determination. The sword came down. Whether achieved by some trick of extreme concentration or her brain being activated by the life-threatening situation, it felt like time had slowed down; Enri flailed for a way to survive—for a way to save Nemu. But there was nothing. If she had an idea, it was only to use herself as a shield—a last resort where she would take the sword with her flesh and make sure he couldn't get it out. She'd grab onto him somewhere, or maybe even onto the blade itself as it cut into her—in any case, she'd grab as hard as she could and never let go. Not until the last of her life flickered out.

If that was the only option she had, then she just had to accept it. The smile of a martyr appeared on her face. This is about all I can do for my little sister now. It was unclear whether Nemu would be able to escape the hell their village had become on her own. It was entirely possible that there was a lookout making sure no one ran into the forest. But if she could make it through this, she at least had a chance. For that slim chance, Enri would bet her life—no, everything. Even so, fear of the imminent pain made Enri shut her eyes. She braced herself in the raven-black darkness for the agony that would come…