"Here we go." "Don't be late." "Same to you." "Impossible to be done in by the likes of these guys..." "Damn it all..." "They did it..." "I'll be damned, they did it..." "I swear..." "We're all so torn up..." "Ah, overcoming many a night" "The frozen dreams, the vanishing tears" "Warm me, warm me, wrap me" "I despise this body that's incapable of love for others" "No matter how far I walk, I see no end" "Taking my memories of the past with me" "What color will I become in time?" "I search for the answer" "The Awakened Being has died." "What?" "You seem dissatisfied." "Never." "It was just unexpected." "Because that Awakened Being was special." "I didn't think they would dispose of him so quickly." "It means mission accomplished." "Are they all alive?" "Three of them." "If the last one is alive, she is quite weak." "If they only lost one, it's a miracle." "Watch them for a while longer." "Is the fate of our comrades on this hunt so important?" "It's like an old man's concern for his children." "I see..." "How does it look?" "She's in a tough position." "She used up her Yoma aura on regenerating her arm, so the regeneration of her abdomen isn't going well." "It'll now be up to her own will power." "Damn." "And you're fine?" "You took the most hits, didn't you?" "But every hit she took pierced through non-vital areas." "What?" "All of her injuries are the sort that will heal easily with time." "Impossible..." "You managed to do that under those circumstances?" "!" "There's something I'd like to ask you." "What?" "Are there any among you who have almost awakened?" "Huh?" "This is important." "I'd like you to answer honestly, if possible." "I have." "I was badly injured, but I strained myself to unleash my Yoma aura and I misjudged my limit." "Awakening should have been not only agonizing to you, but also put you in a state of ecstasy." "Most fighters cannot resist that." "Yes." "It's strange that I was able to revert back." "I have, too." "I got carried away and surpassed my limit." "I was the same as the men." "I couldn't fight the impulse." "But you still came back." "Somehow, I managed to pull myself back together." "I'm pretty sure Deneve has, too." "In her case, it apparently happened when she was trying to see where her own limit was." "You've known Deneve for a long time?" "Yeah, we were in the same class." "Then let me ask you this." "Have you two stirred up any trouble with civilians or the people who hired you?" "Well, for my part, given my personality, it happens every so often." "And Deneve?" "She's a perfectionist, both with herself and others, so..." "Not with civilians, but she's gotten into it with our fellow fighters." "I see." "And the other one here is our lowest ranking member, who doesn't follow orders and has a tendency to be unmanageable." "So, we're all troublemakers, who've almost awakened." "Huh?" "What do you mean?" "We're all coincidentally troublemakers, who coincidentally received incorrect information and coincidentally ended up fighting a male Awakened Being." "What's with that?" "!" "You practically make it sound like the Organization's trying to..." "This is merely a theory." "Miria, what about you?" "I don't know about awakening, but you don't seem like a troublemaker." "No one fits that description better than I." "I have also almost awakened." "You?" "!" "It was during my third time hunting an Awakened Being." "After the battle was over, I found out that she was an old friend." "It can't be!" "Hilda!" "She was in the same class as you, wasn't she?" "You hadn't heard anything about her from the Organization?" "Why..." "Why?" "!" "Why did you not call out my name?" "!" "Why?" "!" "Why did you not let me know it was you?" "!" "Why?" "!" "Why, Hilda?" "!" "Hilda!" "Don't read too much into it." "She had already long lost her humanity." "Ultimately, she was just a monster." "This is bad!" "Her Yoma aura is out of control!" "Miria!" "Well, well, the Phantom Miria is awakening?" "This is awesome." "You!" "They say she's even better than Number 1 on a team." "I would love to fight her." "What?" "!" "What are you doing?" "Hurry up and awaken already." "And you managed not to awaken at that time?" "I knew I had surpassed my limit, but I strove desperately to bring it under control." "Perhaps partly due to my pride, refusing to be provoked by her." "Her?" "No, it's not important." "At any rate, in that moment," "I resolved to exact revenge against the Organization." "They make us into these things, and then in the end, dispose of us as if we were expendable." "I found that unforgivable." "But revenge?" "How?" "On the surface, I make a show of being obedient to the Organization, but I've been snooping around." "Did you find out something?" "Nothing yet." "Though, I must be a nuisance to the Organization." "And thus, they targeted you for disposal." "As I said earlier, this is merely a theory." "I have a question for you." "Has almost awakening changed something in us?" "The fact that you're asking means you have some inkling, right?" "That the quality of your Yoma aura is clearly different now compared to before we almost awakened." "Unlike before, it is now ambiguous where your limit lies." "And every so often, you are assailed by an intense sense of hunger." "Am I wrong?" "We have already awakened." "We are..." "Awakened Beings?" "What is it?" "There was a disturbance in their auras." "It seems the one with the strong aura spoke of something disturbing." "The one with the average aura is upset and arguing back." "The one with the weak aura is relatively calm..." "No..." "Rather, she is greatly disturbed, but she is making sure not to show it..." "Something happened in the past that has caused her to be emotionally closed off." "She is formidable." "She can get all that from this far away?" "You've gotta be kidding me!" "Don't lump me in with that monster!" "I haven't turned into a monster like that!" "Nor do I have any desire to eat humans!" "I absolutely have not awakened!" "I worded that badly." "I say awakened, but we are not completely awakened." "We're in a state that's like being half-awakened." "Half-awakened?" "Normally, we would have awakened all at once, but we are stuck somewhere in between." "Or possibly slowly continuing to awaken." "No, that can't be..." "Your ability to extend your arms..." "Isn't it only after you almost awakened that you became able to use that technique with ease in battle?" "The same goes for Deneve's regenerative abilities." "Ordinarily, you would be pushing your limit to do such things." "It's not something you should be able to do repeatedly." "Surpassing your limit and still going back to how you were before is actually an impossibility." "I see." "All those things correlate with my own experience." "Deneve!" "So, assuming that we are half awakened, what will happen to us from here on out?" "Do we have no choice but to sit around and wait to fully awaken?" "I'm sorry, but even I don't know what comes next." "The only thing I can say is that we do not know under what circumstances we might awaken, which is a precarious state to be in." "Fine, then." "I'll give it a try." "Time for an experiment!" "Deneve!" "What do you think you're doing?" "!" "Stop this, Deneve!" "Just shut up and watch!" "I'm going to die anyway if I try to keep regenerating within the limit." "So, I'm just going to use the maximum amount of Yoma power I have and regenerate all at once!" "This is madness!" "If you surpass the limit in your condition..." "If what Miria says is true, we have long since surpassed our limits." "If so, even if we use all our Yoma power at once, we should be able to revert back without awakening." "But, if I should fully awaken, don't hesitate to kill me!" "What are you..." "Deneve!" "Helen!" "Clare!" "As members of the same class, I'll make sure that you don't suffer." "Leave it to me." "I will not fail you." "One of them has awakened." "What?" "It seems as though she awakened of her own will..." "What could that mean?" "She must have misjudged her limit due to the injuries she sustained in battle." "How unfortunate." "You're going to let this go?" "I thought you cared for them as if they were your children." "I have no recollection of taking in any monsters to be my children." "Looks like I was able to come back." "Deneve!" "Honestly!" "That was reckless of you." "Is your stomach okay?" "Yeah, I managed to get it closed up somehow." "There's no guarantee you'll revert back next time." "If you want to maintain your humanity, you'd better refrain from doing anything too reckless." "I know." "I'll be damned if I have to walk a fine line like that again." "What's wrong?" "I felt like we were being watched." "Don't worry." "I probed the surrounding area, too." "There's no aura of our comrades within the surrounding mountains." "Even if there was someone beyond that range, she would have a hard time even detecting our presence." "Was it my imagination?" "Oh-ho, so there is someone who can detect me at this distance." "But what in the world is going on over there?" "The aura of the one I thought had awakened has stabilized." "Hey, what's wrong?" "Has something else happened?" "No, it seems I was mistaken about the awakening." "All four of them are fine." "Mistaken?" "That's a rare thing for you." "Even I cannot obtain accurate information at this distance." "So, this parental impulse to watch over your children from afar..." "Try not to overdo it." "Let's go." "Remember the aura of those four." "For you may eventually have to cross swords with them." "More like an old fox than an old man." "We will now disperse." "Return to your respective duties." "We completed the job that was assigned to us." "Nothing else happened." "Understood?" "So, do our best to keep the Organization from realizing we have doubts." "That's right." "From now on, be obedient enough towards them to avoid suspicion." "Dispel this image that we are troublemakers." "What a pain." "We need to become cautious in everything we do." "Do that, and we'll be able to get by for a while." "For a while, huh?" "Don't worry." "You're more capable now, because of the awakening." "You could say you're all worthy of being ranked in the single digits." "You think so?" "I don't feel like I am." "I assure you, you are." "Even in the unlikely event that you have to fight one of our own, you shouldn't find yourself too outmatched." "However, Number 5 and above are a different story." "If you come up against them, start by giving up any notion of fighting them." "Ranked Number 5 and above means those ranked higher than you, right?" "They are not just ranked higher." "In all honesty," "I want you to think that there's a great wall between Number 5 and Number 6." "Are you serious?" "These are the emblems of the top 5." "Remember them." "From the right, Number 1, Alicia." "Number 2, Beth." "Number 3, Galatea." "Number 4..." "Is there something wrong with Number 4?" "She thinks nothing of the lives of her fellow fighters or of other people." "In particular, she is abnormally obsessed with hunting Awakened Beings." "I see." "In which case, we had better keep our distance." "Yes." "Avoid contact, even if it might seem a little unnatural." "Above all else, she loves to fight and she loves to see blood flow." "Ophelia." "This is her emblem." "And Number 5, Rafaela." "What will you do now?" "I intend to continue investigating the Organization." "In particular, if I find out anything about awakening," "I'll let you know immediately." "You plan to do this on your own?" "It would be a greater risk for us to band together." "Besides, the idea that the Organization is trying to dispose of us is ultimately just a theory." "We have no proof whatsoever." "We needn't indiscriminately think our comrades are against us." "However, keep your wits about you and don't let your guard down with anyone." "Everyone, let us meet again, alive." "So, I'm to cross swords with them eventually, am I?" "I wonder how many will actually survive to face me." "Truly, a path fraught with perils..." "Give it up, boy." "No Claymore has ever gone up that mountain and returned." "She will come back!" "Clare will keep her promise!" "She'll come back." "Clare..." "Clare!" "I will survive." "Without fail." "Clare!" "Heart..." "Still, within your memories" "Body..." "You look for the missing me" "Once again today, someone, somewhere, is shedding tears" "That is what it means to live the fate that smiles coldly" "Holding on tightly to what I can't afford to lose" "I am right here even now" "The flower that never wilts is beautiful" "And with unwavering emotion in my heart, it continued to bloom" "The condemning sky with its ragged clouds" "Held in its embrace the never-ending sorrow" "A bloody path." "A bloody fighter." "The promised time." "Next time, "The Endless Gravestones I.""