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A flash of white, and the chill of lingering eyes.
Their gazes met from across the bloodstained field. Gleaming sapphire enquired, and haunted crimson replied.
Julius could only register an ivory blur, before his world was rent in two, buried in magenta light.
Decay surged, and the Hero fell to his knees, both legs rotted beyond repair; the blessed sword which marked his legacy discarded into the winds, along with the ashes of his right arm. Rot blanketed the field - leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. Dozens of soldiers were put to grave, with no trace of their ever having existed - not even the stench of rotting flesh left as a memento.
All was silent aside from her footsteps, Shiraori's smooth gait betraying nothing but her resolve. She came to a halt before the fallen Hero, who's eyes had never left her own, and knelt to meet him on an even level.
Her hands did not shake as she raised them, laying one against his cheek and the other around his throat, under the bounds of his loosened scarf.
"You were just... Trying to protect... Your home..."
She could feel each syllable as clearly as she heard them, Julius' gaze never wavering as he spoke. A symbol of acceptance from the man at her mercy. A recollection of older times, before the world had come crumbling down around them.
Even alone and decaying, Julius remained unbroken, his sorrow and regret tempered rather than unyielding. He was the living ideal of a righteous prince - the pure hearted hero. And that was exactly why Shiraori did not hesitate.
His neck snapped effortlessly in her hands, and the beloved Hero was no more.
She had no tears to shed, nor affections to give. He was a stranger in the end - admirable in his kindness and surprising in his strength, but still an opponent to her mission all the same - and one whose power paled in comparison to her own.
If remorse entered her gaze, and a pang of sorrow touched her heart, there were none to bear witness.
(She had failed to end the line of Heroes for good - and for that alone she may resent that he had died in such a way)
Held still in her arms, his body faded to dust, leaving only a pure white scarf.