Marta ran to Emil, checking his hand for wounds. “You absolute idiot. That could have killed you.”
Marta’s eyes flickered with a silver glow—a side effect of wielding the Eternal Sword’s residual power. “What does he see?”
“It wouldn’t have,” Ratatosk muttered, but there was something new in his tone. Not pride, exactly. Respect. “The vessel didn’t break. For once.”
But that night, Emil understood.
“He’s talking, isn’t he?” Marta sighed, sitting beside him. She rested her head on his shoulder. The past two years had been a strange dance: hunting rogue monsters, calming corrupted summon spirits, and keeping Emil from losing himself to the Lord of Monsters. “What does he want this time?”
“I want you to stop apologizing for existing,” Ratatosk growled. “You are not a mistake. You are my vessel. And tonight, you will need me.”
I’m not like her.
“Emil, no!” Marta shouted.
I’m not a coward, Emil thought back.
“The Summon Spirits are mute,” Elara said, her voice echoing off the frozen homes. “The Chosen is gone. The tree stands, but no one tends the roots. You think peace is an absence of war? No. Peace is a balance of fear .” tales of symphonia dawn of the new world undub
Emil winced.
Emil’s hand trembled. The red eye in his shadow blinked.
“I don’t know. He never just tells me.” Marta ran to Emil, checking his hand for wounds
“She’s not wrong about one thing,” Ratatosk said, quieter than usual. “You hesitate because you see yourself in her logic. The desire to erase the pain rather than heal it.”
“Then prove it. Not with my claws. With your choice.”