Chapter 60

Short Synopsis
Clare managed to kill Rigardo, however there is little time to celebrate, owing to Clare being at the verge of awakening. She asks Helen to take her head before it's too late, Jean however stops Helen from doing so and sacrifices herself for Clare's sake, reverting her to human form. Meanwhile the assault on Pieta rages on and the remaining six warriors find themselves in a desperate situation.

At the brink of awakening
The relief of the surviving warriors is great as a result of the half awakened Clare having been able to kill Rigardo. Helen tells Clare to supress her youki and revert back to human form, Clare however replies that she's past her limit and that there's no hope for her, furthermore her body is not hers to control anymore and it's taking every bit of her strength just to prevent herself from going rampage. Helen protests, Clare brushes it aside telling her that she herself is the best judge of her state. She asks Hellen to kill her, for she is the only warrior able to succeed in doing so without getting in range of Clare. Helen tells Clare that she would never forgive her for making her do this, yet still gets into position to take Clares head. At the last moment the mortally wounded Jean steps in, holding back Helen.

Sacrifices
Jean smiles at Clare, telling her that this times the roles are swapped (alludes to Claymore chapter 46). Jean steps closer dispite Clare begging her to stay back and immediately gets pierced by clare. Jean tells Clare to syncronize her youki with her own, Clare protest, telling her to get away and use all her energy to regenerate and thus survive. Jean replies that it was too late for her to begin with, for the wound inflicted to her by Rigardo was already more than an offensive warrior like herself would be able to regenerate. Jean calmly explains to Clare that she would gladly give her life in order to repay her debt and save Clares. One more time she asks Clare to synchronize youki with her and this time, she abides. After the synchronization process a fully reverted human and a corpse are left behind.

The struggle continues
Clare mourns the death of her companion and friend, but there's little time for grief, the battle is still raging. Miria senses the presence of a total of only 6 remaining warriors without a significant drop in manpower on the awakened ones side. Deneve picks up one sword of the fallen Undine, adopting her double-sworded fighting style. The last 6 warriors in Pieta prepare for making one last stand.

Characters

 * Clare
 * Helen
 * Jean
 * Miria
 * Deneve