Elir kept crying… He couldn't look at Nier's face… He failed to protect him… That's why Nier was hitting him now… Because he was angry with him… He hadn't protected him…
Modritao sneered, "So was this person really that important to you? Tell me… are you Elir…? You know what this boy's last thoughts about you were…? I can see them, you know… He hated you… That boy was happy to be rid of you…"
Elir shook his head, saying, "No…"
Modritao went on, "Shall I say them aloud, so you know his true feelings? 'I hate you, Elir…'"
Elir kept shaking his head, "No… Shut up!"
Modritao, "I never loved you… I only stuck with you for my own sake…" He smiled and said, "I really do hate you, Elir!"
Elir clutched his head, eyes bulging across his face, screaming, "Why!! Don't say that Nier!!"
Elir's countless eyes flickered in and out, growing, shrinking… His body and face contorted before them… All eyes turned to him… And when the possessed townspeople saw those massive wings, rising proudly as if reaching the sky, erupting from his frail body… The fire spirits fled from their hosts in fear, and all the townspeople collapsed to the ground…
The squad stared around in terror at the bodies falling like flies, carpeting the earth around them… And at Elir… His enormous wings… The halo of eyes perched above his head… Those who saw him for the first time… Their bodies trembled… They stood in the presence of… A Light… A soldier of God…
Modritao trembled before him, stepping back in fear, "What… is this…" He fled from Nier's body, leaving the latter to slump to the ground…
Eita shouted, "It's too late…" and hugged Bern tightly, weeping…
Eita said, "Leave, Lazith… Don't die here with me…" She kissed Bern's head, "I'm sorry, Bern! I tried!"
Bern wept, clutching Eita, burying her face in Eita's body while still holding Valwa and Vera with her hands...
Elir turned toward Eita… Lazith emerged from her body in a flare of fire, looking like a fiery humanoid shape… He knelt before Elir, pleading, "Please… Spare them… I beg you…"
Elir approached slowly. Eita shouted, "Leave, Lazith! Don't stay here…"
Lazith stood in front of Eita and Bern, facing Elir as he approached in slow steps. He looked at Elir's friend's body and thought… how he reacted when he thought he was alive…
He yelled, "I'll return your friend's soul to his body!"
Elir seemed half-unconscious, drawing closer, not comprehending their words… He only knew one thing… Kill everyone with red hair…
Lazith raised his arm toward Nier's body, chanting loudly, "O flame of souls, O eternal fire, Ignite within the abandoned heart, Let the spirit shine in the darkness of death. In your holy name, Vihara, I restore life to this body."
Bern and Eita's eyes glittered with tears as everyone else watched in shock and dread… Still, Elir didn't stop… He kept advancing, a terrifying light gathering in his eyes… They all covered their ears from the piercing sound of this light…
Lazith repeated in terror, "O flame of souls, O eternal fire, Ignite within the abandoned heart…"
But Elir did not stop…
Lazith glanced at Eita, "Eita…"
Bern sobbed in Eita's arms, gripping Valwa and Vera…
The sound of that light gathering in Elir's eyes was like a deafening trumpet… Frightening… Even to his allies…
Fojta shouted, "That's enough! Stop!"
Rin said in horror, "That Light… It's stronger… it wasn't like this last time… It'll reach us too… It'll wipe out this entire area!!"
Fojta yelled, "What??"
Sabana stood transfixed by the spectacle… She couldn't even speak… Her legs… refused to move… Elir's aura… was majestic… As though she stood before God Himself…
They all felt it, despite everything that happened today—this was a fear none had felt in their entire lives…
They watched Rin, who was also staring at the intensifying light in Elir's eyes…
Rin screamed, "Everyone, get away! Get as far as you can!!"
He searched for Berko with his eyes, but hadn't seen him since the start of the fight… Yet Berko was nowhere to be found…
None of them could move… None of them could run… Their terror… paralyzed their bodies… They covered their ears, which started bleeding… Their own screams growing louder…
Then…
Elir heard a faint voice from behind him, calling, "Elir…"
He froze for a moment, everyone watching in silence… The sound stopped… The light stopped… Complete silence reigned… Broken only by the slow footsteps behind him…
The voice called again, "Elir…"
Elir stood motionless, not turning toward that voice… The steps drew closer, right behind him… Tension on everyone's face… all frozen, watching what would happen…
That person placed a hand on his shoulder… And turned him around…
Elir stared at Nier's face, so full of wounds and burns… Yet… he looked at Elir with wide, green eyes, smiling gently…
Elir had no strength left after his wings and halo faded… But he… clung to Nier's frail body before collapsing with all he had left…
He dropped weakly to the ground, still grasping Nier… And he heard those words before losing consciousness…
"You saved me again, Elir…"
Lazith took this moment to touch Eita, Bern, Valwa and Vera's bodies and then disappear.