ShipTeaser

  As the smoke cleared, Shaeu’s wind prison colpsing with one final breath of aic ozone, sparks of lightnihing, I had a bad feeling. A silhouette could be seen in the dissipating jade energies, and it was soon to be revealed as Mary Stuart, her face torted into a gleeful expression, her ughter sounding out across the Boundary.

  Her once-fiments were rags, the skin underh criss-crossed with cuts and vivid burns, only a few bells still tinkling softly, attached to shredded cloth. Her face was a mess of blood, her emerald green eyes clearly visible beh the crimson and silver, and her hair was now a dishevelled mess. Even so, her mirth tinued, as she stroked her hand idly.

  “Why didn’t you flee?” I asked, trying to interrupt her, genuinely curious. Since she was able to survive Shaeu’s attacks mostly unharmed, she could have fled back to the Material. Beside me Tan, Shaeu and Grulgor were tense, eyeing her warily, waiting for the order to attack, but I raised a hand to forestall them, curious. “We couldn’t stop you getting away.”

  The question seemed to amuse her, as her smile broadened. Choking down ughter, she wiped away blood from her face idly, looking uned. Which s me. Sarah is down, we’ve defeated her troops, other than the few still trapped in the shield bubbles, and the Angel was destroyed. “Flee? Me? Su insult.” She scoffed. “I am here to do the work of the Lord, bring the light of the Ninth Heaven to the heathens and sinners iing this world. I ever abandon my work halfway done.”

  “Yes, I expect that you’re worried that you’ll be taken into custody after this.” I said, and she sneered, her amusement increasing.

  “Are you insane? I think you must be, to think secur ly to us.” She turo look at Eleanor, who reflexively flinched away, before looking angry at herself, steeling herself to meet Mary’s gaze as calmly as she could. “We are the True Revetion, and our reach is long indeed. No, the only punishment we receive is from the Lord and his Angels.”

  “Yel is destroyed.” I pointed out, and Shaeu snorted with ughter at that.

  “Yes, you bsphemers destroyed the Principality, though don’t be arrogant. The true might of an Angel is immeasurable, even its visage would shatter you.” Mary said, turning calm, the eerie and swift ges in her mood unnerving me. “Princess, I offer you one final ce. Before I could allow ynorance as something unfortu fivable, but… many believers have been martyred, and those of the martyred dead have found their final rest, may they find their way to the Ninth Heaven uhe light of the Lord. Now I o longer show mercy. Either surrender and relinquish the false Grail, or I will be forced to send you to your eternal rest and force the Queen to cede in your pce. Surely you would wish to spare an old woman that fate?”

  “Is she insane?” Shaeu asked, tilting her head, puzzled. “She has been soundly defeated, a-yet she stands sant, making demands. I only clude she is not-not sane.”

  “Silence, inhumach.” Mary snapped, eyes suddenly frosty. “I will not be called insane by a creature who is not even human, devoid of the grace of God. As for beied… I am fortunate indeed. All your blows have dotle to me, for I am protected by the fortune of the Lord!” Suddenly a great rush of adherend ether surged from her, and I immediately called for everyoo stop her. Why doesn’t she know when to give up?

  Vivid fire leapt from the hands of Tan, the heat scorg, while Shaeu unched lightning at Mary. Grulgor raised his hands and the ground exploded, great stakes of rock spearing towards her arms and legs, aiming to cripple her, while I hurled a bination of elements at her.

  “The servants of the Lord have naught to fear from you who would hihe path to the Ninth Heaven.” She ughed as the elements barraged her. “Above us there is Power! Desd, oh ruler of the authority of Kings and Queens, those who hold down Evil!” Her voice rose to a shrill cry at the end, and the air shivered, adherence casting aside our attacks. “Behold the Power of the Lord!”

  “No, this should not be!” Tan shouted, showing panic for the first time. “A Power is an Angel higher in the hierarchy of the Throhan a Principality. Even a shadow of it should not be possible, unless…”

  “You’re well informed for a demon.” Mary said, the blinding golden light of radiance spreading over the battlefield, the fallen Sarah staring up at the sight dumbly, eyes watering with tears. “In fact, this was surely meant to be, my good forturiking again. The fallen will be pleased to have given their lives for removing a creature such as you from the world. Uhe agreements, you should [not be here.]” Towards the end, her words ged, being painful to hear, a buzzing uog them.

  Shit. The League she’s giving off is on a par with mine now… maybe a bit higher. The light peaked, and in it I could see a shadow with my Eye. Not good! I moved, St Moonlight rising to meet the thrust aimed at Tan. The impact was heavy, and I nearly dropped my bde, as vivid sparks of lightning and golden light scattered.

  [You are fast. Curious.] Mary buzzed, and I gnced down to see that my bde was trembling against her left arm, which had transformed into a strange bde of red crystal, the edge keen and shimmering with violet and golden lights. Tan cursed her, throwing her Fmes of Thirst and Famine, but blood-red wings enfolded Mary, scattering the fires harmlessly. Grulgor took that opportunity to strike, pung her powerfully, but her wings absorbed it, and she opened her right one, batting him aside like a child. He hit the ground heavily, rising, grinning at the thought of battle, sb-like teeth grinding.

  “What… is that?” Sarah managed from where she y prone, her skin blistering and burning in the light shed from Mary. “An Angel? But it looks…”

  I uand. I wasn’t sure how, but Mary had transformed, and her eyes had vanished, no, not vanished, merely bee a pure milky white, now blending in with the dreadfully pale skin of her face, which resembled bnk paper. Her mouth was a bloody gash, leaking red liquid stantly, aorn robes also oozed, as if bleeding, f a red pool underh her. Hammered into her skull was a of bde-like swords, to match her left arm, and the red wings enfolding her were covered iilian eyes like the Principality, as well as screaming mouths with dangling tongues.

  [The works of God are often unpleasant to mortal eyes and ears. To uand is folly. But evil never rests, never sleeps. Not all of the Ninth Heaven is beautiful, but all is purposeful. Now, Heaven’s Tears!] Her words spiked into painful statid suddenly the sky above her burst intht aurorae, but these were fuelled by adherenot aether. Droplets of water formed, being frozen, quickly accumuting mass, and a volley of them fell down towards us, as well as towards Na, Hyath, Eleanor and the others, even towards Sarah, who looked up dully.

  “Foehn!” I cried, fmes bzing, and as I fed it into Prominence Dawn once more, my light overpowered hers for a sed. Mary shrieked in pain, fmes flickering over her wings and exposed face, but for some reason they didn’t sprout into the usual bze. The frozeeorites did burn though, fring away into mere melting fragments, that Hyath was able to protect the others from, her vines f a opy overhead.

  “To take an Angel into yourself, even a mere shadow…” Taed, thrusting her sword of fmes forwards, only to have it knocked aside. Mary yelled some words, the mouths in her wings repeating them, and the beams of light from the eyes simir to the Principality surged out, verging into a shining an blinked, uo rea time, and was thrown back, pierced through the upper body.

  “Tan! Shiro!” I cried, Shaeu eg me as she prepared her own attack, a massive sphere of wind into which she was f fmes, while her pinwheels were charging up with lightning.

  “I am … not well.” Tan admitted. “But it is not a fatal strike, even if the adherehin this is rather poisonous to me.” She wrehe spear free, burning her palms on the brilliant shaft, and the gaping wound smoked and smouldered. “It is fortunate you now know how to purify such wounds, no?” Tan sneered, before addressing Mary. “This will destroy you. Your work, your spirit, even with the grace of the Ninth Heavens, it will not survive this.”

  [Wrong, wrong, wrong!] her response was gleeful. The fiery ball Shaeu was juring smmed down on her, exploding, and as the nova drove us back, I saw Eleaning away Sarah by her hair, her own armour heating up from the bst. [Yes, holding Power is foolish, but God… he does not py dice. Su unpleasant saying, so bsphemous. No, God does py dice, and by his will, he always rolls what he wishes to. All good fortune es from the Lord! Now, Earth Break!] At her final words the ground exploded in front of her. Grulgor was sent flying, torn into multiple pieces, but his body liquefied, running together and ref, stone growing out of the water like salt crystals. The ian blocked the attack with her fiery wheel, though the effort sprayed fresh ichor from her wounded chest. With a sigh she pced a hand over the hole, letting her own fmes cauterise it, letting out a sharp hiss of pain.

  Shaeu was quicker, her pinwheels ing around Mary, and as the wires struck sparks from her skin, whining, lightning c into her with seemingly no effect, Shaeu used footholds of wind to leave the ground, dodging the fury of the attack. I forced Might of the Furious Earth to buff my Fortitude and pushed Body Enhao my limit, p through, fog wind and fme energy into St Moonlight. Blood sprayed as I cleaved into one of her red wings, blinding an eye, but several mouths shed out with drooling tongues, and though I male free, the effort drained me. Shit, she’s strong. I worry…

  The sky was starting to crackle with crazed silver lightnings, much like Kyoto. Even as I spread my vision I was attag, water element beams striking Mary, though her bded arm scattered the bsts harmlessly, parrying rapidly as though she was some sort of swordswoman.

  “Die!” Hyath roared, and a fog of spores billowed over Mary. She ughed, breathing them in, and for a moment I thought it was over, only for the light around her suddenly intensifying. [Purify Evil! Dominate Disease!] Her echoed words burhe spores to dust, and then she pointed with her human hand, a beam of light rag towards Hyath. Eleanor stepped in front to block it, and light scattered around her, burning dozens of fist-sized holes into the ground and also the wall of the Tower.

  “No, I’ll not back down. This is… my Tower, my try…. My allies!” Eleanor said, the g of hundreds of ravens eg, the sky above the tower darkening. Her body was riddled with holes, yet eventually the bst dissipated, and she fell, smiling. “That… hurt. I don’t think I do… any… more.”

  “Princess!” David bent down to look at her, ed, despite the fact he shouldn’t be moving with his own grave injuries, but she waved her good arm.

  “I’ll live. Well, as long as they defeat her. Don’t you think… we did a bad job?” she ughed bitterly. “Why ’t we all just help each other? We’re all human, right? No, not even that…” she looked at Raidre and Hyath, who had a very plicated expression on her face as she looked at the woman who had stepped in to protect her. “…we are all capable of kindness, loyalty, honour. More than some humans.” She coughed, her scorched lungs slowly repairing themselves.

  “Is that a dig at me?” Sarah managed, groaning as she tried to sit up, her body still battered fror’s relentless assault and burned from the indest light from Mary. As these versations were happening, Grulgor, Tan, Shaeu and I were throwing everything at Mary, but she was shrugging off almost all the hits as though they were nothing, and her own terattacks were piling up injuries on us.

  “Of course it is. You betrayed me.” Eleanor said, looking her in the eyes. “And for what? That?”

  “She means well, I promise ye that.” Sarah whispered. “The world is doomed, unless we uhat’s the truth, and ye ae ge that with wishful thinking, Eleanor. But…”

  “But then it’s even more important that ull together.” Eleanor said, and it was Tan who answered, her fiery sword shattering again, words from Mary triggering a tornado of sharp wind bdes, which would have cut us to shreds if Shaeu didn’t activate her own Foehn, the wiing breath dev the adherence-rich winds greedily.

  “The Orue Throne does not believe in helping each other or allying for the cause. Even in the realms high above, the Throands alone, despite the threat of mutual extin. Their strength towers above all, like their mountainous Throne, yet… well, even their pantheon is named for their hubris.” Tan growled then, calling upon the fire giant and arming it with a pair of fming wheels, feeding it further strength. The giant engaged Mary, driving her back a few steps, but she spoke once more.

  [You should not be speaking of such matters. Those are the providence of the Book of True Revetion. Gaze Not On The Lord!] Her light was suddenly blinding, and I staggered back, only able to see though my Eye, the other suddenly dark. [You are fortuo die beh my bde. For I am one who does the work of God, ses with the light of Power, that I am lucky to wield!]

  “Fortune, luck. Destiny, fate.” Shaeu spat, her own amber eyes glowing to resist the words our oppo spoke. “All such-such a nonsense. If that were absolute, Shiro and Tan would not-not stand with us now, but instead would have devoured Akio.” Her gaze flickered to the spirit light of Tsukiko-san, she was able to see it, as our Kin Bonding was ected. “Tsukiko would have been likewise extinguished, and Eleanor… she would have died here, to betrayal, her heart-heart shattered.” Eleanasped at that, and Sarah once more looked ashamed, her hand on her rosary burnt to the bone from the earlier light.

  “Grul says shut up, fool!” His stony fist smmed into her, throwing her backwards a few steps, before she lopped off his arms. With a gurgling grin he regrew them near instantly, striking her bnk, pure white face hard enough to rock her head back, blood spilling from her mouth in a red tide.

  “Yes, we make our own luck. I ot deny the influence of fortuan attacked, fmes casg, thicker than ever. Shaeu’s pinwheels bunched up, aiming at the base of a wing, but Mary’s skin was too solid. “… else I would never have had the opportunity to remain here, and take the world for mine own, and for my pantheon. But…”

  “But when we work together, we overturn any ill-ce!” I cried, and suddenly I felt the breath of Shaeu’s fortunate winds on me, weightier than ever. It settled around Tan, Grulgor and Shaeu as well, like a warm breath.

  “Well said, Akio.” Shaeu approved. “But there is no-no shame in giving fortune a little push, is there?” she gred at Mary. “You think you-you alone know what is right, what is just? Well, we will show you that you are not-nht, and justice lies with those of us who seek to proteot-not to dominate!”

  [Yant inhuman thing!] Mary sneered. [I am Power, none of your attacks do more than mar my skin.]

  She’s right. We do have a few trump cards left, but judging by the performance of others… My hao the Lantern dangling at my waist, giving off a faint purple glow that I was slowly drawing into my body. “Tan, back off. Let Shiro have trol for a moment.”

  She cocked her head at me, puzzled, but leapt back, allowing Grulgor and the fire giant to have the lead, while Shaeu tio bst off a tinuous rain of varying elemental attacks. Vied as Hyath tried to aid us, momentarily restraining Mary, and Na bubbled her, the energy field starting to bulge outwards as Mary screamed, her mouths wailing in fell harmony.

  “What do you need, Aki? ging your buff?” Shiro asked, her eyes now dark for a moment, and I nodded.

  “Yes, there’s more to this than we know. Buff my Eye again!”

  “Are you sure? Last time you colpsed. If you go down now…” she said, worried, and I nodded, aowledging that.

  “Yes, I get it. It’s a risk, but I think it’s the best ohe danger ing this out is more than just losing…” The Boundary, the Tower, our survival… everything is at stake.

  “All right, I trust you, Aki. Just… don’t screw this up, okay?” she said, and a surge of aether flooded me, followed by the knifing pain in my eye, spreading to my brain. I’ve mahis before. All right, I’ll split my thoughts as much as I , and try and spread the overload and the pain. As I thought that, icy meteors were f above us again, and Tan was ba charge, her fmes spearing them, blowing them apart.

  The bubble Mary was trapped in shattered, and I used ohread of my mind to trol my as, bde g against her ruby crystal arm. As I did so, I focused my Eye, ign the pull on my sciousness, of the rge amount of information expanding into my brain. No, I don’t need all of that. All I need is… narrowing my focus as much as I could, shutting out everything else but what I o appraise, I observed. My Eye burned, my Split Thoughts shuddered, but as the world seemed to slow down, I focused on Mary Stuart, my Eye peering deep into her.

  Linked Seraphim: Css [Imperious] Type [Law] - ????????

  Metatron’s Words Of The Lord: Css [Legendary] Type [Law] - ????????

  She has two Favours? Or is it just o was hard to make out, but in pce of her chakra, shohe Linked Seraphim, and it was drawing on a huge amount of adherence from elsewhere. Then down by her heart, the brilliant shining golden orb that was the Metatron’s Words Of The Lord was glowing too like a sun, giving off a terrible sense of power.

  No, I o go deeper… f myself, narrowing my vision on Linked Seraphim, I felt knowledge filling me as though I was a small cup, threatening to burst me, sending my sciousness spiralling, but even though I could not see them, I knew my panions were still fighting. I do this…

  Linked Seraphim: Css [Imperious] Type [Law] – This Divine Favour is ???????? ???????? ??????? and allows ???????????. ????????? ?????????? ????????? ?????????.

  Useless. I o see more. I strained and pulled aether and even some adhereo my Eye, also drawing upon the winds blowing around me, and the blessing from Shiro.

  Your skill, Mystic Eye Of The Tree Of Knowledge, has increased from Rank 3 to Rank 4. Your Eye now sees some of the hidden mysteries of the world, drawing on deeper multiversal knowledge the Tree guards. Your ability to observe and uand Adherence has signifitly increased, and if you have a grasp of what you are looking at, your uanding of it will increase ensurately.

  The pain eased, the knowledge I ulling down from the Tree of Knowledge settling into me fortably. With the sudden stress trying to pull me into unsciousness fading, I forced my sight to go deeper, pushing higher again, Shiro’s blessing from Anesidora dispersing, somehow used up, but allowio raise my Eye to the peak of the Rank for a short while.

  Linked Seraphim: Css [Imperious] Type [Law] – This Divine Favour is one part of a greater, linked whole and allows access to the ??????????, the great source of Adherence. As the peak of the Linked Angel Favour, the greatest Adherence be drawn upon, creating miracles and emp the bearer as long as Adherence be drawn.

  With Mary attag relentlessly, her strength seemingly inexhaustible, I trated on the flow of adherening from her repced chakra. It was a heady tide, far more than I would be fident of bearing, even with my strong League and high stats. It read around her body, and maing this Ahis Power, within her, as part of her, irely dissimir to the way Tan was bound to Shiro. Though uhe way we’ve dohat, this is crude and reckless. There’s no way she should be able to bear this strain…

  [You are being tiresome. Then The Priests Will Bst Orumpets!] A bring bst of noise, dissonant and filled with adherence, radiated outwards, the ground around us shattered and turning to dust. Desperately, I elled wind energy, creating a vacuum, and seeing me do that, Shaeu added her efforts to mine, and we barely stopped the destructive wave from striking us and the others. As I hahe wind energy, I felt a faint tugging, a feeling, one I hadn’t felt in a while. It’s like that time I won on roulette, or the first time I fought the jumo. My luck is going to be perfect…

  I let it tug at me, and my eyes were drawn to her hand that was still human, and the gleaming ring of interlog knots and barbs there.

  Anulus Fortunae – Item Css: [Legendary], Item Type: [Fate]

  The Ring of Fortune, fed from ????????, gold from ??????? and the refined and processed Adherence of great luck, grants the bearer astonishing good Fortune so long as their belief in such fortune never wavers. The prote of Fortune and the ??????????? shields the wearer from great harm, magnifyiing Fortune dramatically.

  So powerful. Even now, my Eye wasn’t strong enough to uand just how the Ried, but the gold itself seemed to be impregnated with an adherehat I could see a measure of, as well as energy simir to that which resent amongst the Linked Seraphim, and was now cirg iides to the parts of Mary that were funally an Angel.

  “Akio, what-what do we do?” Shaeu said, nding beside me, blood spttered all over her white dress, one leg dragging. Grulgor was fighting bravely, but as water and stone scattered, he was torn in half again, and light fshed, the eyes in her wings bsting him away, where he y smouldering, not dead, but out of fighting strength for a moment. “She is annoyingly tenacious, I do not-not think we are making much progress.”

  [Of course you will fail. Against the Power of the Lord, all is hopeless. You should have repented before this hour, and never denied God, or the Ninth Heaven. Before The Cock Crows Three Times…] She began another intation, the mouths on her wings howling. She was irely crimson, soaked in her own blood, yet somehow the adherence radiating into her wasn’t damagihough sheer, impossible luck, seemingly.

  “It must annoy you…” I said, taking a deep breath, preparing myself. That feeling of an approag moment where ag would bring great dividends was whispering to me, the faint jade breaths of Shaeu’s fortunate winds, strengthened by the adherence-den attaed by her Foehn, was tellihat we had one ce. “… spending all this adhere ’t be cheap, supp su Angel. It’s even damaging the world around us.”

  [You are quite right. It galls me, bitterly. But you have all proved greatly troublesome. Spending power now to destroy such great obstacles will only be us in the dangerous future.] As I expected, her arrogance made her stop her words to talk down to us haughtily, so sure she was of her eventual victory. [And when we recim the false Grail, the adherence we will recover will dwarf my trials here. Now, Before The Cock Crows Three Times, Thou Shalt Deny The Lord. And Denial Of The Lord Is Extin!]

  The light around her intensified, and Tan raised her fmes to their maximum. “This is exceeding what I handle, without f the prio bear more of me than her body take.”

  “Do it, Tan!” Shiro suddenly took over. “Better just me getting hurt than everyone else!”

  “No.” I shook my head. “ Na, put everything you have into blog this…” I shouted, and the woman imidly. “In the moment of greatest despair, we will overe your belief!” I shouted, and Mary shook her head.

  [Useless. Futile. Hopeless. Righteousness and Fortune are on my side…] The light intensified. [I know you think me cruel, that I take pleasure in this. I do not. I offered many ces to cease denying God. But I have been spurned, and now the result is that you will burn uhe light of the Power. But I shall raise a grave for you all, and not fet you. Even now, if you repent, your soul will seek the light of the Ninth Heaven, not damnation!]

  “Sorry, but if you think yht defeat me, you’re wrong.” I g Shaeu, and her eyes widened as I quickly whispered something. Nodding, she drew out all her winds, p them into me.

  [Farewell. Know that the others will join you soon! The Light Of Judgement!] The light surged forwards, a beam so vivid it made the breath of the wyrm I fought ba the early days look like a child spitting. Immediately Na called up her stro barrier with what strength she had left. It held for several seds, buying me a little time, spinning up Prominence Dusk, a dark, bck hole f, surrounded by a ring of shimmering light. In addition my other Split Thoughts were drawing energy from the Lantern I had taken back from Ixitt before heading here, adding trickles of spatial energy to my chakra. The feeling ainful, the energy threatening to break loose and cause havoc within me, but I was restraining it, fortunately.

  The barrier shattered, exploding inwards, and I saw a faint flicker of energy behind it, another barrier. That held for perhaps half a sed, scattering light like destructive sparkles. Then Tan roared, her fmes, enhanced by the three Favours she had taken from Kyoto, swallowed like a giant fanged mouth, ing the light. Tan then slumped down, hair fading to silver, eyes turning bck, leaving a wounded Shiro behind, gasping. “Shit, we’re done. Guess we ’t handle her cheats…”

  True, it’s like she use Linked Seraphim to never run dry. Although, the adherence shouldn’t be infinite… “Grulgor is not done!” he roared, the ground rising into multiple walls of earth, which were melted through in moments as the light ripped apart the remnants of Tan’s fmes, turning them to magma. Shaeu tried to block the bsts with her pinwheels and her own walls of earth and water, but they too crumbled quickly, fshing t rod steam. Hyath raised great t walls of vines, only to see them quickly reduced to ashes. Moments ter Eleanor, despite her horrible wounds having barely started healing, was rushing towards the bst to block it.

  “I think not-not.” Shaeu leapt, knog her down to the ground, and the bst passed over her head.

  “Why?” Eleanor protested. “I could help…”

  “No-no. reciate bravery, but that is simply foolishness. Akio has not fought so hard to see you die-die now. None-none of us have.”

  Her words were swallowed up, as the beam struck me. No, not me. The dark star of Prominence Dusk greedily ed the energy, the bck void growing, the hal a brilliant ring of light. Like an Angel’s…

  The force pushed me back, everything happening in a mere instant, the strength of the attack more than Prominence Dusk could bear, ordinarily. But not… if I’m lucky enough, and strong enough... The attempts to halt the attack had sapped it of around a third of its strength, and now Prominence Dusk was fronting it. Even so, it was barely enough. Suddenly, the beam was besieged by a storm of dark shapes plunging into the bst from above, bck feathers scattering, as a flock of giant ravens threw their bodies into the path of destru, ealy a cup of water on a raging fire, but after ten, twenty, a hundred cups…

  Your Skill, Promiwilight, has advanced from Rank 1 to Rank 2. More elemental energy and elementally-fvoured Adherence be absorbed by both Dusk and Dawn, and just as each carries a trace of the other, Dusk and Dawn two sides of the same , so Prominence Darominence Dusk carry each other, though the potency is signifitly supressed.

  “This isn’t my only hungry skill!” The st of my Foehn was fed into Prominence Dawn, and the twed, the darkness of Dusk suddenly being bck fmes, sug in the light. I was taking damage, scattered motes of the light burning through me, and I felt that if this attack had struyone else they would have been annihited. As the light faded, my skin charred, my body full of bleeding holes, deep enough to reveal bone and my ihe pain was rather spectacur. A bemused looking Mary Stuart, though it was a little hard to tell, as her face was a bnk mask apart from her bloody mouth, leavio judge via her body nguage, spat a curse.

  [You survived that? You truly are a powerful…] she paused, as I vanished. Now is the moment. The fortunate winds burst, and at that moment I activated the true Void Motion with the little spatial element I had gathered, moving myself and the Prominence Dusk perfectly, just as Mary raised her hand in annoya her failures. I reappeared instantly beside her, sword in hand, my other hand holding the bck ball of fmes, surrounded by a bzing white aura. That detonated spectacurly, the incredibly powerful light element created by Mary’s Angelic adherence mixed with the darkness element and the bestowed property of Foehn instantly bursting into a lightless sphere, space around us seeming to tort and twist. I screamed in pain, it now truly unbearable, but I had not expected to make this move without some sacrifice.

  [You… what… have… you…] Mary said, her arm ripped free, as mine was also torn from my shoulder, our flesh and bone crushed together and ied by the sudden incredible force as Prominence Dusk imploded. I was close enough to her face to feel her breath, so I could see her pale, white eyes widening in fused shock, seeing her face twit a momentary crisis of fidehen her wing was torn off and shredded too, adherence scattering, no, being drawn into the shrinking vortex, though I mao pull in some of it to feed myself. Seeing a glimmering mote of gold within the fading light-dev sphere, I let loose with my aether, draining myself to the dregs, activating False Void Motion, and the Ring materialised in my palm, shining softly, having somehow survived the Prominence Dusk unscathed, whiow vanished with a final detonation, throwing both of us aside.

  I nded, rolling over and over, only to be caught by Shaeu, who had mao get behind me. As she held me in her arms, looking at my stump with a tender expression, I could see Mary, her body starting to break down, no longer able to support the Power she was maing. Her eyes had gone a dull, lifeless grey, and as the other wing turo red dust and drifted away on the wind, so did her bded arm, leaving her armless. “Why?” her voice rasped, back to normal, though her throat was filled with blood, chokiears trickled down her blind eyes, and she struggled to move, flopping around like a beached fish. “How could this happen? I only wao serve the Lord, bring the faithful to ay of safety… for my grandmother, and for the Lord…”

  As I struggled to my feet, Shaeu supp me, I went to address her, only to see someone else reach her first, a fsh of red hair in my vision. It was Sarah, who despite her burned and battered body, had mao cross the distao her, kneeling beside her. “I’d hold ye by the hand, but… seems like ye nae have one anymore.” Sarah said softly, also in tears. “It’s over. Ye lost. We lost.”

  “In the end… I felt your power. Did you…” Mary asked solemnly, after coughing the st of the blood out of her throat.

  “Aye, sorry. I guess betrayal is kind of habit f, ye ken.” David snorted behi Sarah’s self-depreg, bitter words. “But in the end… this was nae right, was it?”

  Eleanor joihem, as did I, Shaeu helping me over. As Eleanor looked at my missing arm, horrified, I shrugged, trying not to show the utter agony I was feeling right now. Ether Healing was w to y worst wounds, but it would take time for even the pain to stop.

  “Don’t look at me like that. I am the Chosen of Tyr after all, and giving an arm to win is pretty much part of the deal.”

  Shiro s that, being familiar with the myth, as she icked up by a regeing Grulgor and brought over, her body limp, the great spear wound in her body still angry and burned. “Sure Aki, talk like a big shot, like you don’t care. But… it’s over nht? We won? Princess saved, time for the celebration. Ouch… shit. Feels like I’ve been stabbed… oh wait, I was…”

  “I shall-shall attend to you momentarily.” Shaeu grinned. “And as for Akio’s arm. I shall be sure-sure to tell Aiko of this, and I am sure she will have much to say on-oter.”

  Hyath and Na brought over Sir Arthur and Raidre, who was looking at Shaeu with a mixture of horror and fasation. As we were now all gathered together, I nodded, looking down at the silent, listening Mary. “Yes. For now… it’s over.”

  ShipTeaser