Clare had left. She was going to find the little boy. Her journey would take her west, where she'd encounter the Western Abyss and start a brand-new adventure.
Irene had decided to accept Kid's offer and become his guide. But along the way, she realized that Kid acted more like a guide than she did—it was him leading the way the whole time.
"Seems like someone's following us," Kid suddenly stopped and said.
Irene thought, 'You just noticed?' She'd already sensed another Claymore tailing them from the moment they left the mountain. And not just any Claymore—the yōki was intense.
"Let's keep moving," she said. She figured Kid stopped to confront the tail, but to her surprise, he just raised his foot and kept walking, totally ignoring the stalker.
"Where are we going?"
"To Clare's battlefield," Kid replied. He remembered Clare had used her Quick Sword for the first time in a fight against the No. 4 Awakened. It had been a brutal fight, but Ophelia had this twisted obsession with Awakened Beings and only attacked Clare because she showed signs of awakening. Once Ophelia realized she had awakened herself, she gave up resisting and let the Quick Sword kill her.
Awakened battlefields weren't hard to find. From far off, they could already see snapped trees and deep gouges in the ground. Irene had no idea how Kid found this spot, but it was clearly the place.
They pushed through the battered forest and arrived at a creek. What was once a clear mountain stream had turned purple, filled with chunks of flesh.
"Quick Sword!" Irene recognized the cuts right away—they were made by her Quick Sword. Then she realized this was the Awakened Clare had fought. "Clare?!" But there was no trace of her anywhere nearby.
"Don't worry. You should be happy—Clare won," Kid said as he stepped right onto the water's surface and continued searching.
Irene watched him walk on water without making a ripple and was more convinced than ever that Kid really was a mage. But what was he looking for?
The hidden stalker also watched Kid with growing curiosity. She was intrigued by this man and had no idea what he was doing.
This battle had just ended. Clare wasn't far. She was on the other side of the creek, digging a hole. She was planning to bury Ophelia's body. After this fight, she felt Ophelia had regained her humanity at the end and wasn't just an Awakened anymore.
That's when Kid arrived. He found Ophelia's final remains floating in the water. Her upper half was still human-shaped, but the lower half had been turned into a giant snake and hacked to pieces by Clare. Her chest had been pierced too—there was no doubt she was dead.
But her expression was peaceful. She had willingly died by Clare's sword, shedding her bloody reputation and returning to being a quiet girl. Even though she wasn't breathing or moving anymore, Liu A'dou thought maybe… just maybe… she could still be saved.
"What??!!"
What was that glow on the surface of the water? Why did bathing in it feel like being reborn? That was Kid unleashing his strongest move—Cosmic Ripple Overdrive.
The murky water turned crystal clear. The Ripple made the whole stream sparkle like it was lined with diamonds, flashing with brilliance.
"What's going on?" Even Clare, who had been digging, was Startled. Shafts of light pierced through the forest canopy.
Irene noticed the chunks of flesh in the water were dissolving fast. The Ripple was acting on the Awakened remains, breaking them down into basic nutrients. The stream transformed into something pure, like amniotic fluid.
The stalker was stunned to see that the dead branches in front of her were suddenly sprouting new buds and blooming with flowers. A shiver ran down her spine, and when she snapped out of it, she realized the ground beneath her feet had turned into a sea of blossoms. The whole forest was letting out a soft, pleasant sigh—everything was coming back to life.
The trees that had been broken in the battle quickly grew new trunks, stubbornly stretching upward again.
Liu A'dou, who was channeling the Ripple, could clearly feel life flowing back into Ophelia's body. Even though her form was incomplete, she was coming back to life. The nutrients in the creek water were rapidly being absorbed into her, repairing her legs. This was thanks to the human body's genetic self-repair.
But it looked like the nutrients were only enough to fix her legs. Her arms hadn't regenerated—probably not enough energy. Still, missing an arm wasn't a big deal.
'Just a bit more—wake up!'
This was Deep Ripple Overdrive—a complete cleansing of her body with Ripple energy. Any ordinary Ripple user would die attempting this. But Liu A'dou's Ripple was powered by his Microcosmos, so he could pull it off.
The Ripple energy fully reactivated the dead cells in Ophelia's body. The naked girl suddenly opened her eyes and sat up in the stream.
Splash—
Water droplets flew as her hair whipped through the air, falling like music from the sky. Life was beautiful—being alive was the most precious thing.
"Breathe!" Kid called out.
"Huff… huff…" Ophelia instinctively drew in air. She was alive again.
Liu A'dou thought, 'Finally, I saved someone.' Even though Ophelia had no breath or heartbeat before, her brain hadn't fully died. He was just barely in time—if he'd arrived any later, she wouldn't have made it.
"Resurrection?!!" Three voices cried out at once from three different directions. Even the stalker couldn't hide her shock.
It wasn't just surprise—it was total disbelief. Something that shouldn't be possible had just happened right in front of them.
Kid, like a true gentleman, took off his cape and draped it over Ophelia's shoulders. In his heart, he silently whispered, 'Long live my wife.'
Clare's grave-digging was now pointless. The Claymores didn't know how to respond to all this. They should've been happy, but the shock left them numb, forgetting how to even feel joy.
Even Ophelia herself was lost. She clearly remembered dying. So why was she whole again? And why did she feel so much power inside her?
Kid didn't say anything. He let them all take their time to calm down. At the same time, he spotted their stalker—it was indeed No. 5, Rafaela. One of her eyes was blind, but her strength fully justified her ranking. She had been ordered by the Organization to eliminate the rogue Irene. Of course, she hadn't really planned on doing it. The Organization had experimented recklessly, which led to her sister awakening. She hadn't even settled that score yet.
Rafaela had followed them here out of curiosity and never expected to witness such a miraculous event.
Liu A'dou looked at the newly regrown legs on Ophelia and gave a thoughtful nod. "Alright, we've got our second guide. Irene, let's get moving."
He spoke lightly, like what he'd just done was no big deal. That pristine white suit and faint smile gave him an air of mystery. It made people wonder—who the hell was this guy?
By the time Clare and Irene snapped out of it, all they saw was each other standing across the creek. The other three had vanished completely.
Rafaela glanced at the weak No. 47, then turned and left. She needed a place to calm down.