The young Emperor glared back at Akane with disgust.

"Akane, you've gone mad! You know I never wanted to be emperor in the first place, but this is genocide!"

Akane's smile quickly faded into despair. Remembering Shizuru's words, it was her life that was on the line now.

"Then I have no choice..."

Akane struggled to speak as her resolve began to waver. However, she managed to suppress her emotions and summoned her tonfa back into her hands. The blades of the weapons began to glow once again, and the helpless Emperor sat against the wall frozen in terror as his soon-to-be assassin raised one of her arms to deliver the death blow.

Unexpectedly, Akane lowered her arms back to her sides and let her tonfa drop to the stone floor. She stared at her feet and began to sulk.

"I... can't do it..."

Soon after speaking these words, Akane grabbed the sides of her head and let out a painful scream. She collapsed to her knees and quickly realized what was happening.

"Please, no! Not now!"

She stayed in a kneeling position and continued to tremble as the Chaldean Emperor watched in puzzlement. Suddenly, the mysterious force Akane seemed to have been struggling with subsided, and she rose back to her feet. Her eyes closed as she slowly rolled her head back and allowed her hair to fall behind her shoulders. Akane began speaking in a deeper, but still distinctly feminine, voice.

"Hmph. Such an unreliable girl."

Emperor Kazuya looked up to the Otome standing over him, now more confused than afraid.

"A... Akane, what are you doing...?"

Shizuru had fully resumed control, feeling somewhat disappointed that her plan had failed. She slowly glanced down at the baffled Emperor as she lifted the tonfa from the floor and activated their blades once again. A sinister smirk appeared on her face as she continued to speak in her natural tone.

"I'm sorry, my lord. There will be no more delays... in your execution."

Emperor Kazuya's face remained frozen in an expression of horror as Shizuru quickly cleaved his head from his shoulders. His corpse slumped out of its seated position and onto its side.

As Shizuru turned to exit the throne room, a portion of the ceiling collapsed and the four remaining Columns, dressed their own Meister Robes, entered through the resulting hole. They gently landed on the throne room floor, minding the fallen guards strewn about, and gazed toward Shizuru. Column Mahya spoke in a disinterested tone.

"So, which one are you now?"

Shizuru sighed and returned her tonfa to stasis before placing a hand on her Robed hip.

"Akane couldn't keep up her end of the bargain, so I finished the mission for her. And I'm kind of disappointed, to be honest. She had some promise. She managed to do all of this for me."

Shizuru swept her arm across the room, casually addressing the carnage spread about. She continued speaking to her Column peers.

"She won't be bothering us any more, though. I've destroyed so much of her mind that I doubt there's enough of her left to contact me again. And in the unlikely chance she would even be able to, she doesn't have the willpower to try."

Meister Nao raised an eyebrow in doubt before responding.

"And what makes you so sure this time?"

Shizuru smirked with self-assurance, and simply turned toward to the beheaded body of the Chaldean Emperor before answering.

"She's lost the last thing she had worth living for."

The other Columns were satisfied with this response. The five young women flew out of Chaldea's castle and headed back to Garderobe. Another country had been conquered in the War of the Five Columns.

THE END.