One With Nature

Omake: Withering Rose.

Third POV:

It was over.

Everything she ever did, every sacrifice, every drop of blood she spilled for her beloved land was now meaningless.

In the vast empty desert, leaning on a stone was a girl. Her once beautiful red dress was tattered and filthy. Her hair was covered in dirt and outside of it's usual braids. Her skin was pale, and her green eyes looked lifeless, none of their previous spark remaining.

She could look for food or something to drink, but she saw no reason to. Her people, her beloved nation, they both had exiled her. Calling her a tyrant.

Suddenly, a shadow fell on her. Looking upwards, the girl saw a large figure covered in a cloak and hood. For a moment, the girl believed it was death finally here to claim her.

The figure raised their hand and water flew towards the girl's face, washing her head and going between her dry lips. When the water stopped, the girl coughed several times.

Suddenly, something dropped in front of her. The girl's eyes widen as she saw a crimson and somewhat jagged sword.

It was her sword.

"Pick it up," the figure suddenly spoke.

Reaching weakly, the girl's hand took hold of the sword's handle. Standing up while holding her blade, the girl saw that the figure was also carrying a sword, but the one they were holding was far more normal in appearance.

"Who are you?" The figure asked.

The girl blinked, believing that SHE should be the one asking that. However, before she says anything, instinct took over and she raised her sword to block the strike from the stranger.

The blow was strong enough to send her rolling away on the desert floor. Standing up again, albeit weakly, the girl looked at the figure with widened eyes.

"Tell me your name!" The figure yelled, holding up their sword.

"I... I'm..."

She couldn't answer. Her name didn't matter anymore. Neither to her or to the nation she loved.

Her instinct took over again and she raised her sword to block another strike, this one sending her feet dragging through the ground.

"Have you no name? Are you no one?!"

"No, I'm..."

"Then tell me your name!"

"I... I..."

The figure raised their sword and pointed it at her. "If you have no name, then drop your sword and let me kill you. If you truly believe you mean something, that your love means something, hold your head high and tell me your name!"

The girl looked down. After everything that happened to her recently, the idea of dropping her sword and dying was tempting.

But...

The girl raised her sword again as the figure charged. With a strong strike, the girl was sent flying and rolling on the ground. Struggling to stand up again, the girl used her sword as support.

"Who are you!?" The figure yelled.

"I-..."

She refused.

She refused to believe the love she has was meaningless. The nation she sacrificed everything for might have exiled her, but she refused to stop loving this land and its people.

"I am... Nero..." the girl managed to stand up again, she looked at the hooded figure with green eyes that were now full of life and shining brightly. "I am Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus! The fifth Emperor of Rome! Even if I no longer hold the throne, my love for this land is everything to me!"

"Then come at me, Nero Claudius!" The figure yelled, holding up their sword. "Fight me like an Emperor!"

Raising her sword to the air, Nero charged forward, letting out a battle cry.

The sun moved across the sky and began setting. The fight lasting for the whole day.

Eventually, Nero simply could not keep up with all the exhaustion and hunger. The hooded figure knocked her sword from her grasp and swung for her neck, cutting her head clean.

As her head began falling, the world seemed to slow down for Nero.

(Whoever you are... thank you...) Nero's eyes began closing as she saw a pair of white glowing eyes from under the hood. (Thank you... for letting me die like an Emperor...)

The next day, Roman soldiers on petrol found Nero's headless body resting on a field of roses.

First POV: Zack

Nero's rulership and her end was sadly one of the vital points of human history. Messing with it would have seriously risked a Pruning.

However... I may not have been able to fix her life, but I at least managed to give her an honorable death.