Face to Face with Death

Empress Aurelia knelt on the damp group stained with blood, her eyes no longer blurred. She seemed to have awakened from the control of Mephisto the moment Pope Johan perished. However, this didn't end her feelings of grief and guilt. 

"W-What have I done?!"

A bitter voice, like the cry of a child breaking a precious item. Aurelia gazed at the wounded knights beside her, most of them unable to fight ever again. Then she saw the opposite side, her hands clawing at the sticky, cold mud bubbling in her hands. 

'A grave mistake...'

'I failed once again, how can I be called an empress?'

This hunt was originally a place for her to hand over the title with a bloodless and peaceful method.

However, her eyes looked at her wounded hands, the knights she once fought and trained within the castle training grounds. 

Now, only silence surrounded her, along with the quiet breaths of those she failed.