Inside a room which was by no means large.
There, beings that were not people sat around a seven-sided table.
Each corner represented one of the main elements that were said to make up the world: fire, water, wood, metal, earth, sun, and moon. And each seat was reserved for the grimmfolk general that was crowned with the corresponding title.
However, there were only six present when there should have been seven, with the empty seat belonging to the seat of Fire.
"…What's wrong with Vernal?" the man sitting in the Water seat growled unhappily.
Their statuses were the same, yet opposing. Even while being comrades with the same status, there was no trust between them, and they were all constantly planning on how they would knock the others down. However, they all deterred each other, so no one could have actually followed through.
It was under that perfect yet unstable balance that the Seven Grimms of Destruction, were established.
And right now, one of the members who should have been equal to them was making all the others wait, irritating them.
"Who knows? Maybe she's dead. All the monsters that followed her are gone now. So is the Ram, after all. I find it harder to believe she's alive."
The man who sat at the Wood seat sounded happy. There was no hint of any grief or anger at the fact that one of his comrades had been killed. In fact, his tone oozed with joy, as if congratulating the fact that she died.
"So she was done in by Juvia, huh?… Or did Fiona rebel? Anyway, it's her own fault for overestimating her own skill and trying to use one of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians."
"Heh, even among the Seven Grimms of Destruction, she was the weakest. Done in by a mere member of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians? She's a disgrace to us grimmfolk."
"Stop that, idiot. Saying that's bad luck."
The woman who sat at the seat of the Earth surmised Vernal's cause of death. The woman with an ominous aura who sat at the seat of Metal wasted no time in making a joke about it, as if she'd been waiting to do so this entire time.
The one who hurried to stop them was a woman who occupied the Moon seat.
Lastly, the woman at the head seat of the Sun, who was most likely the leader, spoke softly while looking at the other members.
"At any rate… Vernal was most likely killed by something or someone. And on top of that, Fiona of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians has similarly disappeared… This is serious."
There would be no anger over Vernal's death. However, there was possibly someone or something out there with the ability to defeat a member of the Seven Grimms of Destruction. That fact could not be ignored.
It would be fine if it was one of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians or the Seven Maidens of Midgar. However, what if it was someone from neither of those two groups?
…That would be a threat that, once again, could not be ignored.
"Ashley. You should have been near Svel, right? Did you see who killed her?"
"Of course I saw."
"Oh? Who was it?"
The woman named Ashley laughed in response to the woman on the Sun seat's question, sounding as if she were having fun. However, that was not the case for anyone else.
"I don't know who, since I couldn't get too close, or I would've been killed, too. But, I do remember that it was an absolutely stunning woman with beautiful, black wings."
A beautiful woman with black wings who could kill one of the Seven Grimms of Destruction,.
Hearing those words, no one would have failed to think of "her."
But… But it was impossible. That person should have died one thousand years ago. That was how it should have been.
"It couldn't be Lunaru Fenris…?! Sh-She's alive?!"
"No way! She should have been killed by the Seven Maidens one thousand years ago!"
Lunaru Fenris.
To the grimmfolk, that was a name scarier than even the Seven Maidens Of Midgar.
Once, she'd united the entire world under her empire, a conqueror that managed to unite all of humanity. Her might was enough to stand at the top of the world, even during an age where hero-level individuals were normal.
More than anything, her way of being was fear personified. No matter if they opposed her or not, she had massacred any grimmfolk she came across. She would put grimmfolk heads on spears, exposing their defeat to the heavens as if she were trying to crush their very will to fight.
Begging for one's life had no meaning. Warriors who had begged for their lives, saying they had a family, had their skulls crushed under her boot. If one ran, she'd grab their heads from behind before ripping off their head with the spinal cord still attached.
She was an absurdity that surpassed and crushed all other absurdities under it. She was unreasonable to the point where no others could have matched her. She would tear apart any who would invade her territory; she was an invader to invaders.
The Black Angel of Death was a fearful demon to the grimmfolk.
Everyone feared ever meeting her. They wouldn't be able to run, and they couldn't be saved. If any grimmfolk were to ever come across her, it would mean the end of their lives. There were no exceptions. No grimmfolk that had ever happened across her sight had lived to tell the tale.
Luckily, Naru's severe methods invited fear and rebellion from her fellow humanity, and she was unable to avoid being overthrown by her own comrades, but still, the number of grimmfolk she'd managed to bury up until then was uncountable.
If she really was alive, then she could flip the power balance between the grimmfolk and the humans right on its head. Just the possibility that the personification of fear could be alive caused the place to go into a confused uproar.
"The Black Angel of Death, the only one the Grimm King has ever avoided battle with, huh…? If she really is alive, then she is a far bigger threat to the grimmfolk than the Seven Maidens of Midgar. Ashley, do you know where she went after that?"
"Yes. Right now she seems to be at the Grave of the Black Empress."
"All right. Then you continue to keep tabs on her. Report to me immediately if something comes up."
"Understood." The woman who presided over the element of metal obediently acknowledged the order from the head of the Seven Grimms of Destruction.
The scene of her bowing reverentially, lit by rays coming from the window, looked almost like a play.
Her smile seemed like it was ridiculing absolutely everything.