No one's POV
(Dreamscape)
When Ryuu woke up, she was sitting in the darkness. It was a familiar darkness. This was the darkness that had tormented her for the past five years. This was the boundary between life and death where she had been stalled. No one was beside her. That person was gone. She felt that was a pity. She did not know why. She could not remember anything. But her cold hands struck her as sad.
Suddenly, light pierced the darkness. Beyond the light, she saw her irreplaceable companions. Astrea Familia.
Ryuu: Alise...
Alise, Kaguya, Lyra, and all the others were standing with their backs to her. No matter how she shouted, they would not turn toward her. Ryuu knew that. The gulf between her in the darkness and them on the far shore of the light was too wide. Suddenly, she realized she could walk forward. She could walk out of the darkness. She could walk to the source of the light, to the place where the companions she longed for so deeply were standing.
Joy filled her.
No matter how much she called to them or how bitterly she cried, they would never turn toward her. But if Ryuu walked toward them, they would welcome her. At first they would be angry. Kaguya would scold her and Lyra might crossly pull on her ear. Maryu and the others would probably push her around. Alise would definitely stick her finger in the air and give her a half-baked sermon.
Ryuu: I'm finally joining you guys...
And then, she was certain, they would break into smiles. They would all gather round to welcome her back and praise her for how she had soldiered through these five years. They would throw their arms around her shoulders and stroke her head. Her wish would finally be granted. Her sins would finally be atoned for. She would finally be able to pass away. Ryuu began walking toward the light, searching for salvation. One step, two steps, three steps. She passed the boundary of the darkness. Only a little farther now until she reached the distant shore—
Alise: You can't. Don't come any closer, Lion.
At that very moment, one of the forms that had never before turned toward her finally showed her face.
Ryuu:—
The red hair swayed and the green eyes pierced Ryuu. She had been seeking the light, but now her feet stopped.
Alise: Lion, you can't come here. We won't let you.
Ryuu: Alise...?
The eyebrows rose in flat rejection. The lips that were always so just denied her. Alise spoke as if she were trying to make Ryuu realize something.
Alise: You must not run away. Especially from him. You owe him that much.
Alise's gaze skipped past Ryuu into the darkness beyond. The monster's horrible roar pounded against Ryuu's back. It was the same roar of despair that terrified her, robbed her of the mask of wind, and turned her into a wretched elf. But within that hair-raising roar was the sound of resistance—a brave war cry like raging flames.
Alise: Don't you see? If you come here, you will regret it!
Alise's powerful voice made Ryuu's hands shake. Finally she was able to go beyond the light where she had so longed to go, but now she was beginning to question her decision. Her dried-out heart that yearned for her friends was competing fiercely with the mad desire to seek out that battle cry of flame.
Ryuu: I can't do it anymore...
Ryuu's voice was quiet now. To stop the fight in her heart, to give up on everything, she spoke in the unfeigned voice of her heart.
Ryuu: I just can't, Alise... I can't fight anymore. I can't resist the past.
The Skull Reaper. It was the beginning of everything, the source of all misfortune. A symbol of the past that tormented Ryuu. She knew that if she returned to the darkness, harsh reality awaited her. It terrified her. She was crippled by her fear of facing the past. Ryuu gave a miserable bleat and hung her head.
Alise: Liar.
But Alise responded with a single word.
Ryuu:—
Ryuu opened her sky-blue eyes and looked up. Her friend's face was before her, with its firm gaze that saw right through her.
Alise: You claim you don't want to lose hold of justice. Your justice is screaming at you not to lose Sora. The boy we all Astrea Familia fell in love with.
Alise did not explain anything. She did not admonish Ryuu. She did not lead her. She simply presented her with the truth. Her words shook Lyu to the core, sending out ripples in her heart.
Alise: Justice is still alive within you!
What was "justice"? What was "right"? Ryuu had never known. She had never been able to find an answer. All she knew was that Astrea had told her to forget about justice. She assumed that she had lost all right to it. But Sora had told her something different.
He had said she still had justice within her.
Alise: Our Familia sought peace and harmony. Even now, our new Familia outside this very city of heroes is still making everyone happy!
Now Alise, too, was confirming Ryuu's justice.
Alise: You never once forgot that. You always stuck to your guns and did the right thing, just like I knew you would.
The words of her Hero and the girl linked up in her mind so that finally she understood their meaning.
Alise: 'Cause that's your Justice, Lion. Hope for a brighter future. Your justice—your hope has not died yet! It lived on within you and within him.
It was true. The justice Ryuu had been seeking since the day her companions died was hope. When Syr saved her, she decided to live so she could make sure the justice of her companions was fulfilled. She wanted to believe that what Astrea Familia had bequeathed her would connect to hope. She wanted to believe it would bring order and peace to Orario and smiles to the faces of its people. Ryuu had been pursuing that vision since the day they died.
It was like Sora had said: Ryuu had brought them help and salvation and hope. Ryuu's actions had led to hope for someone. That's what Sora had been saying all along. There was no such thing as universal justice. But this was Ryuu's justice. A hope that illuminated the future, not the past. Finally, finally, Ryuu realized what the justice that lived within her meant. As she did, the other members of Astrea Familia turned toward her, as if to compound the change in her heart.
Lyra: You wanted to finish what we started, right? To make our effort count for something. Then your path lies with our beloved Hero.
Maryu: Just think about how many people you helped! And that includes Sora. The person you help most!
Ryana: Remember all the smiles you put on their face. And the smile you always put when you are around him.
Ryuu: You guys...
Neze: Justice doesn't have a right answer. Just like Sora said, every one of us has our definition of Justice.
Asta: You have to came up with an answer of your own. Yours is the same with Sora.
Iska: And that is hope! The hope you and Sora posses.
Noin: Yet you convinced yourself that you'd given up on Justice.
Celty: How very "Lion" of you.
Kaguya: Go. Get outta here! You have a monster to slay? And besides, none of us here are ready to see Sora just yet. I personally not ready to hear his answers.
Next to Alise, Kaguya shooed Ryuu toward the dark.
Lyra: Good luck, Lion. Make sure Sora doesn't die.
Lyra smiled spitefully, her hands laced behind her head.
Neze: Hang in there. Both of you.
Asta: Don't run away!
Iska: Do your best.
Ryana: Beat 'em!
Noin: Show it who's boss!
Maryu: Go kick its ass!
Celty: We'll be rooting for you!
Each of her familia members had their own words of encouragement for Ryuu. Unable to bear their words and kind gazes, Ryuu frowned and shouted back at them.
Ryuu: I... I've wanted to apologize for so long! I wanted to say sorry to you all!
At long last she spoke the words weighing on her mind. This was the true wish she had harbored since the day she lost everything.
Ryuu: I stood by and watched while you died, and I didn't do a thing. I wanted you to judge me! I wanted you to blame me and curse me and condemn me!
On the far shore of the light, neither Kaguya nor any of the others spoke a word. They simply looked back kindly at her as if to say, But you knew! Yes, she did know. She knew they would not have blamed her. It was only Ryuu who could not forgive herself. She could not accept her past. By thinking of it as a crime, she was trying to punish herself so she could stop suffering. Ryuu's fists relaxed and hung limply at her sides.
Alise: Lion!
The voice of the girl she loved so dearly rang out high and clear.
Alise: What does justice mean to you? The hope in your heart. What's it telling you?
Ryuu's throat quivered. Before she realized it, she was weeping uncontrollably. Desperately holding back her wails, she answered with her truest desire.
Ryuu: I want... to be with him...
Not the gentle light on the far shore, but the depths of darkness where cruelty awaited her. Not by the sides of Alise and the others, but by the side of her Hero who was alive now.
Ryuu: I want to go back to the tavern with him...to where Syr is!
Not to the past where her familia was, but to the future. Alise smiled. Her smile was like the sun telling her she had done well.
Alise: Lion, you must not run away from him! You must not let go of your feelings for him! So don't lose to the other girls!
Ryuu smiled. Tears rolled down her cheeks. There was no sorrow in her sobs, and no darkness. She turned her back on her companions and walked toward the darkness.
Alise: We will meet another day, Lion. Take care of yourself.
Their words sent her softly on her way. She would go, and come back one day.
Ryuu: I'll see you later... I loved you, my dear friends.
(Reality)
Ryuu:—!!
Ryuu opened her eyes. The first sensations she felt were a burning pain and a will-crushing lethargy. Then the loneliness of having been left by herself. The warmth that had enveloped her was gone. Sora had vanished. In his place, in the darkness at the end of the passage, was a fierce song of battle. Sora had not given up in the least. He was thinking of Ryuu and trying to fulfill her hopes. He did not want her justice to be lost.
Ryuu: Sora...!
Ryuu drew together her strength and made a fist. She knew what she had to do. The vision was gone. The hallucination had vanished. Alise and the others were nowhere to be found. Perhaps everything she had seen on the far shore of the light was no more than a delusion that suited her own fancy. Still, they had taught her something.
Justice was alive within her. She must not throw it aside. She must seek hope. Ryuu planted her shaking hands on the ground and peeled herself off it.
Ryuu: Aaaaaa...!!
In the pool of blood, she gave a newborn cry. She broke with the self that had huddled in the shadow of her departed companions, imprisoned by the past, and gave birth to a new self. She had to face it. She had to face that past she had hid from for so long. She had to fight. She had to fight the symbol of her past she had feared all these years.
The Skull Reaper, the monster of calamity, was her past personified. If she wanted a future, she had to overcome that past. If she was determined not to lose anyone else, and to live out her justice and hope, then she had no other choice.
Ryuu: Aaaaaaa!!
She stood up. She grabbed a weapon from the pool of blood—the skeletal sword of a spartoi—and thrust it into the ground. Pushing the pain away, she took a step forward. That step gave birth to another, stronger step. She called forth the strength to move ahead. Ignoring her screaming body, Ryuu walked down the dusky path. She walked toward the song of battle.
Toward the place where the roars of the monster and the war cries of a two humans and one Spirit reverberated. Beneath the phosphorescence that illuminated the darkness, Ryuu threw herself toward the place where calamity and cruelty waited.
Skull Reaper: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
Beyond the passage, a fight to the death was under way. In the center of the room, the monster and the two humans along with one Spirit Girl were clashing, intent on killing each other. Sora and Slyphid were crossing their weapons with the Skull Reaper to create and opening for Bell. Where did that strength come from? It was as if he was literally pouring the last dregs of his life itself into their fight.
Sora had pulled the monster into a pure contest of strength. With the gleaming twin swords in both hands, he was fending off every pilum the monster shot at him as they ricocheted relentlessly off the walls, floor, and ceiling.
With his super human speed, he could easily counter the enemy's pila. He had faced a storm of those murderous swallows before, and now Kanshou and Bakuya knocked down the barrage of evil pila without missing a single one.
When the Skull Reaper, with its hatefully joyous roars, shifted to close combat, he noticed the white haired rabbit and the Spirit Girl charging in. Bell grip his Hestia Knife and Sword, while Slyphid grip her divine spear. It was a high-speed weapon with a double edge. By alternating between the dark purple blade and the dark crimson one in his right hand, Bell successfully shut down the monster's hit-and-run strategy. With that opening, Slyphid had slash its tail and slice off some of the lizardman scales.
There was a regular pattern to his enemy's jumps now that it could not move with complete freedom. With their instincts, Sora, Bell and Slyphid had registered the relationship between the angle at which it landed and the time needed to prepare for its next jump, and by doing so they managed to withstand the savage attacks.
Determined to use his earlier loss as the basis for victory this time around, Sora roared and launched a counterattack. The swords and the scythe flashed crimson-white, drawing countless arcs through the air. Sparks swirled amidst the deafening clatter. It was a circle dance of fiercely clashing light. To Ryuu, it looked like one raw life force being hurled against another.
Slyphid:—!
Bell: Ms. Ryuu?!
Sora: Hmph! So she finally came!
The three had noticed her presence. At the same time, the Skull Reaper twirled around and looked straight at her. Her chest shuddered. She could not hide it. Her trauma creaked with fear. But now there was something that scared her more than having her past wounds opened afresh. That was the prospect of once again losing something irreplaceable. For a brief second of concentrated time, her heart was calm. This perfect stillness was followed by a tempestuous gale wind. This was the wind of her will driving her forward.
Skull Reaper:—!!
Ryuu leaned forward and took off running. She kicked off the ground, danced through the air, and landed a terrific blow on the astonished Skull Reaper. She plunged the blade of white bone into the monster's raised right arm, above its protective armor.
Ryuu: Sora! I...can't be the elf of the lake.
Knocked aside by her enemy's forearm, she hit the ground rolling and shouted at the dazed Sora. Since he liked heroic tales, she was sure he was familiar with the one she'd mentioned. Elves respected the story greatly. Young elven girls dreamed of living that story. But Ryuu was rejecting it. Sora stared at her.
Ryuu: I will not allow those who I care about to protect me while I sit by and do nothing! I will not let you walk into the jaws of death alone! This time, we'll do it together!
Sora: So you finally forgive yourself!
Sora smiled as her strong words reached him. He nodded back to her with his bloody, scarred head. Bell and Slypid rushes in and stood by their side. Bell raised his weapons. The hieroglyphs on the Divine Knife and Sword gripped in his hand pulsated with light, as if it was burning with a renewed passion to fight. Slyphid raised her divine spear and wind surrounds her.
Sora: Then I have a plan. Bell used your final heroic charge! Ryuu, your last magic!
Then he looked at his beloved Spirit.
Sora: The two of us will use our last assimilation to create an opening!
Slyphid: As you command!
Then Slyphid disappear into particles of light. And that light merge with Sora's body. Then the same transformation that had occurred during his fight with the Red Juggernaut happened. He was now in his Spirit form. At the state he was in, one minute of assimilation was his limit. Any further time will just destroy his body. Sora knew, but that didn't matter anymore.
Sora, Bell, and Ryuu:...
Standing shoulder to shoulder, the Hero, the human and the elf launched their counterattack.
Sora, Bell, and Ryuu: AAAAAA!!
The Skull Reaper was wild with rage. He was terribly put out to have his fight to the death with Sora and Bell spoiled. The clock was ticking for this monster who had incorporated so many of its own kind and now wore its unnatural "armor of persistence." He had decided to pour every last remaining second of his life into the battle against this one male. He absolutely must kill the gray-haired boy.
This worthless being was interfering with his reason for existing despite being nothing but a distraction. At the whim of his anger, the Skull Reaper prepared to squash the offending bug.
Ryuu: !!
But Ryuu dodged. And that was not all; she fought back. Her movements were incomparable to those of a few moments before. It was hard to believe they came from the same adventurer. Blood was still flowing from her right arm and right leg, and indeed from her entire body. She was wounded from head to toe yet still she had found the courage to face her past, her trauma. Gale Wind was back to her old outstanding self. More than that, she was set on overcoming her past limits.
The beauty with which she fought set her apart from the rabble the Skull Reaper had slaughtered so far.
Ryuu: I will end you!!
She screamed the same words as the gray-haired boy, with the same look in her eyes and the same will. The Skull Reaper had recognized this before. Like the Hero, the elf was worth hunting. She was worth giving of himself body and soul to massacre. Therefore, he would kill all three of them together. The Skull Reaper gave a fearsome battle cry and devoted every ounce of his being to murdering them.
Sora: Ahhh...!
The accelerated onslaught consisting of a series of jumps and a storm of pila pushed Sora to the limit. His body was on the verge of breaking.
Five minutes had passed since the battle began. But in their tattered state, it would not have been surprising for either Sora or Bell or Ryuu to lose their equilibrium at any moment. Their bodies were well beyond their capacity. When their flames of life had flickered out, the journey would end. Although the Skull Reaper was paying for its transformation into a chimera through the rejection of body parts, the physical strength of this nonstandard monster exceeded that of the adventurers. When the waiting game was over, it would destroy them.
Bell:...
When Bell was fighting, he had constantly been on the lookout for a chance to land his lethal blow. The Skull Reaper, however, seemed aware of this. The evidence lay in the fact that while it still used its claws, the pila were now its main weapon. In the current stage of the battle, there was no such thing as a decisive blow.
Ryuu: Distant forest sky. Infinite stars inlaid upon the eternal night sky.
Against this backdrop, Ryuu began to chant.
Skull Reaper: !
Bell:...
Sora:...
The Skull Reaper look surprise to the elf as she began to sing in the midst of running and brandishing her sword. Concurrent chanting. By carrying out attacks, movement, evasion, and chanting at the same time, the user called forth the necessary moment for a lethal blow. She was executing Sora's plan.
Ryuu: Heed this foolish one's voice, and once more grant the starfire's divine protection.
It was also a song of regret. Ryuu had sung the same song as she allowed Alise and the others to protect her without saving them in return. Succumbing to despair and terror, she had frozen, able to move only her lips.
Ryuu: Grant the light of compassion to the one who forsook you.
Now she sang that detestable song as she fought. She was determined not to lose what she cared most about. This time, she would not only be protected, she would protect in return.
Sora: Bell...!
Bell: Right!
Bell sensed the intention behind Sora's words and Ryuu's actions, as well as their strategic meaning. The removal of the Skull Reaper's shell. The shell that still remained on the left side of its body was endowed not only with magic reflection, but also with the stone body of the obsidian soldiers it had incorporated. Ryuu's Luminous Wind could not deal a lethal blow as long as their enemy wore this stony armor capable of reducing the strength of magic. And she did not have the mental strength left for two attacks.
Skull Reaper:...!
The Skull Reaper interpreted the cutthroat speed of Ryuu's chanting as a threat. Given the compromised state of its armor, there was a slim chance the attack could hit home. There was a small possibility this could open the door to defeat. Thus the Skull Reaper was determined to destroy Ryuu first, before her magic swelled to its full strength.
Sora: Railgun!
Bell: Firebolt!
Sora and Bell fired off a shot—not at the monster, but at Bell's own black knife and sword.
Skull Reaper: !
The electrical fire converged on the blade, followed immediately by the sound of a chime. He was preparing to activate Raikou Vesta. He was summoning what strength he had left to charge for the last time. The Skull Reaper could not help reacting to this omen signaling the same attack that had taken his right arm. There was no way he could ignore the lethal blow that had almost killed him.
This was what Sora and Bell had been aiming for. In front of the monster was a human with a powerful white aura surrounding him; to his left was a human carrying out a concurrent charge; behind him was an elf chanting as she ran. The one in front was clearly a decoy, yet he could not ignore it. His attention split, the Skull Reaper stopped moving for a second.
*Gong*Gong*
Ryuu: Come, wandering wind, fellow traveler.
To the monster's left was the sound of the great belfry where Bell charged his electrical fire knife and sword. Behind the monster, Ryuu belted out her chant. In front of it, Sora charged forward with his Spirit form. Their plan was to strip the Skull Reaper of its shell and then blast it with magic. The monster of calamity reacted by slamming its right arm against the ground.
Sora: Both of you, jump!
Ryuu and Bell:—!!
Pila erupted from below—but not only in one spot. They formed a circle measuring ten meders in radius around the adventurers.
Sora: Whoa!!
Bell: Shit!!
Ryuu: Ahh!
By sending the bone javelins underground, the monster had managed to attack Sora, Ryuu and Bell at the same time. The sword mountain rose with the monster at its center. But with Sora's quick wits, all three of them managed to avoid its blow. But now they were stuck in the air, where the Skull Reaper saw its chance. With one strike, the Skull Reaper intended to finish them off by skewering them on another batch of pila.
Ryuu: Cross the skies and sprint through the wilderness...
But Ryuu did not stop chanting. With an indomitable spirit, she maintained control over her magic and seized a chance at victory. Because she did, Sora and Bell did, too. Even as blood spilled from his mouth, his body has reached his limit. Sora narrowed his eyes and hit the ground with both weapons.
Sora: Lightning Fall!!
The lethal blow was not aimed at the Skull Reaper itself, but instead at the pila boring through the earth.
Skull Reaper: ?!
The ground exploded with a thundering roar as the reverberations shook the world before the Skull Reaper's eyes. The underground flare blasted every one of the bone javelins into dust. The supply of pila had been cut off.
That was not all, however. The power and impact of Thunder was transmitted through the pila to the Skull Reaper's right arm. The limb made of the bodies of countless monsters shattered.
Skull Reaper: ?!
The Skull Reaper screamed as its right arm exploded from the inside out. As Sora's Lightning Fall sent cracks racing across the floor and the entire room shook, the monster stumbled. For a moment, its guard was down. Sora did not let the opportunity slip past. He charged. He intend to destroy it for good.
Sora: Damn—!
But he was far too late. One minute was up. Using his last assimilation with Slyphid had robbed his remaining mental and physical strength. He could feel both his and Slyphid's mind slowly fading. Even though he cursed his collapsing knees and braved a close press, the threat was no match for a monster specialized in agility. In the final moment, the limits of Sora's physical body betrayed him.
Having bounced back from the damage inflicted on him, the Skull Reaper turned his outraged red eyes on Sora. He anticipated no trouble in intercepting the ragged hero that was flying toward his chest. He raised his left arm, brandishing his scythes.
Raised at an angle above its head, the scythe of destruction were without question intended to finish off Sora by skewering him. No doubt they would color the world red when they pierced his chest and exited his back. Just as Sora imagined they would. Just like the attack that had stolen his friends five years earlier.
Ryuu:—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
Blocked from regaining her footing by the damage from the pila as well as the impact of Sora's attack, Ryuu howled. To overcome the tragedy that had been seared into her eyes, she became the wind and flew through space. She kicked her left foot against the ground and pierced the air like a flash of light arcing toward the monster. Approaching from the side, she soared directly to his upraised left arm.
Skull Reaper: ?!
With Futaba already drawn, she used her two shortswords to dissect the scythe of destruction. The blades sliced through his wrist and finger joints. Time stopped for the Skull Reaper as it realized Ryuu had just stolen its most potent weapon, those claws so sharp they could be mistaken for fangs.
Ryuu(mind): If I'd only done the same on that other day—
Within the still pool of time, memories of the past rose in Ryuu's mind. Again she saw Alise, her back pierced by those scythe that she had welcomed in order to protect Ryuu.
Ryuu(mind): If only I had stood up. If only I had fought beside them like I was fighting now. Alise would not have been defeated!
Regret and pain seared her body as her heart let out a scream that ripped through her chest. She knew she could not bring back the past. Still, she looked back on that moment when she had been saved and cried out with a heart full of a hundred different emotions. All of this while she sailed past the dazed Skull Reaper.
Bell:—OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The next instant, Bell hurtled into the Skull Reaper. Sora and Ryuu's support had allowed him to to leap toward the small opening they created at the monster's breast. The enormous skeleton froze as the space between Bell and him vanished and the boy slammed his electrical fire knife. He had charged for 60 seconds.
Bell: RAIKOUUUUU VESTAAAAAAA!!!!!
The cry came an instant later. Bell's heroics attack exploded into his body. There was just one shot. But one shot was enough. The final dregs of Bell's heroic attack raced through the Skull Reaper's poorly defended body, ruthlessly exploding it from the inside.
Skull Reaper: ?!
The remaining shell on its left side flew off its body as the electrical fire detonated. The obsidian soldier's armor, too, shattered to the ground in a swirl of sparks. But it wasn't enough to take down the Skull Reaper altogether. Without a magic stone to be shattered, the unique monster remained standing. However, the massive form was now completely naked and without armor.
Ryuu:—swifter than anything.
The elf's song rang out, a beautiful melody of wind. From the Skull Reaper's perspective, she was on his right side. Having stolen his scythe, she now lay on the ground with both legs pressed into it. She thrust her right hand toward the frozen Skull Reaper and prepared to release a torrent of magic.
Ryuu: Imbue the light of stardust and strike down my enemy!
This was the final line, the one that announced the spell's completion. Sora and Bell had been thrown backward by Bell's attack. Astonishment filled the monster's red eyes. Ryuu fired.
Ryuu: Luminous Wind!
The magic was activated. Huge orbs of light swathed in green wind materialized. Forty-seven of them. The magic attack into which she had poured every drop of her mental strength had begun.
Skull Reaper: !!
The stream of light-orbs flew toward the monster. There was no escape from this storm of destruction. Yet the Skull Reaper did escape.
Bell: What?!
Bell stared in disbelief. The monster had leaped with such power it seemed his right knee would shatter as it bent. The orbs of light swallowed up his tail and blew off his right leg from the shin down, yet still he flew into the air. Having lost their target, the storm of glowing orbs blasted past Bell as he screamed in frustration and crashed into the wall of the room. The monster had evaded Ryuu's lethal blow. Bell grimaced as reverberations shook the air. But not Sora and Ryuu.
Sora: This is far from over Bell!
Ryuu: I know your speed better than anyone else in the world.
She had kept ten of the forty-seven orbs by her side. She had predicted this. She had guessed that the monster of calamity would probably evade even the most powerful magic released at the ideal moment. Even with the sacrifice of her closest friend she had not been able to fully take down the previous Skull Reaper. She had looked at the current situation with coolheaded realism and fully anticipated the monster's ability to evade her attack.
From its position on the far wall of the room, the Juggernaut stared along with Bell below him at the ten glowing orbs.
Ten.
That was a special number for Ryuu. The number of irreplaceable battle companions she had lost. These orbs, larger than all the others she had produced, hovered around her back.
Ryuu: Let's go.
With that, she dashed forward.
Skull Reaper: ?!
She did not fire the orbs she had held in reserve but instead pulled them forward with her toward the Skull Reaper. This would not be a long-or mid-range attack.
Just before Bell used Raikou Vesta on the twenty-seventh floor, the monster had leaped into the air. If Sora hadn't rushed in and push it down, Bell's blow would not have hit its mark. Likewise, if Ryuu didn't release her attack from extremely close range, the Skull Reaper would not be destroyed. Ryuu had learned from her repeated fights against the Skull Reaper, and she chose a "zero-range attack." Although she could not accelerate as fast as she would have liked because a pilum had wounded her thigh, she leaped forward with a scream.
Ryuu: Noin, Neze!
As if responding to the names, two of the glowing orbs exploded into the soles of Ryuu's boots.
Bell: Huh?!
Sora: That's?
The sound of the light slipped into Sora and Bell's ears as Ryuu accelerated with explosive speed. The wind-wrapped orbs of light had given her incredible forward momentum. Ryuu became a gale wind that cut through the air so quickly it left the stunned Sora, the shuddering Bell and the astonished Skull Reaper in the dust. As if she was kicking off from the two orbs of light, she hurtled straight toward the monster.
Skull Reaper: ?!
The Skull Reaper scrambled to thrust its right arm, which was now missing its lower half, toward the flying elf. A pilum volley erupted from the joint between its arm and its body.
Ryuu: Asta, Ryana!
Ryuu once again howled the names of her companions and shot forth two large orbs of light. One was released from her side and landed on her left arm, which she held close to her, thereby changing her course midair.
Skull Reaper: ?!
She turned at a near right angle, evading the rain of pila in the nick of time. Immediately, the second glowing orb exploded into the sole of her right shoe, and once again she flew forward. The arc she drew through the air was like a bolt of lightning. As the space between Ryuu and the Skull Reaper vanished almost instantly, the monster kicked off the wall with its left foot in an attempt to escape.
Ryuu: I won't let you!!
She followed. Ignoring head wind and the law of inertia alike, she twisted her creaking body around by pure force of will, landed on the wall where the monster had been a second earlier, and took off flying again.
The Skull Reaper's gaze wavered as it took in the form roaring toward it. She was using her magic like never before to move through the air. Her high-speed leap beat the astonished Skull Reaper at its own game.
Of course, her reckless strategy of changing her magic into propellant force was unlikely to lack consequences. The heels of her boots flaked off, exposing the blazing red soles of her feet. The left arm she had blasted an orb into in order to change directions was fractured as well.
Her body was not broken, however.
It might take all the abilities she had to withstand its evil power, but she would not permit herself to die until she had shot that monster dead. She shot herself with her own magic, making her flesh smoke and her skin burn, and yet the "flight of the elf" continued.
Ryuu: Please, lend me your strength, everyone!
Together with her familia, she would shoot their enemy.
Skull Reaper: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Correctly perceiving Ryuu's intention, the destroyer sounded a blaring alarm. Throwing caution to the wind, it shot all its remaining pila. Having lost a great deal of its mobility, it was desperately trying to prevent the elf from drawing near.
Ryuu: Celty, Iska, Maryu!
As if they were lending her a hand, the three orbs whose names had been called redirected Ryuu diagonally and smashed the pila speeding toward her. As Ryuu flew through the air buffeted by powerful wind pressure, she saw the faces of her companions in war. Her ten sisters in justice flew beside her, raising their voices with her in a battle cry.
It was a hallucination. A mere sentimental delusion. A mirage to suit her whims. She knew that. And so she transformed that vision into the strength that drove her forward.
Ryuu: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
The elf's roar shook the air. Strangely enough, this was a dogfight between two wingless opponents. As if drawn upward by this scene unfolding like stardust crisscrossing the night sky, Sora rose to his feet helping the unconscious Bell. His eyes wide, he was like an animal unable to do more than stare up at the stars in the heavens.
Sora: All of you... Lady Astrea... She's finally done it.
He saw: The track of the elf as she danced through the air guided by ten orbs of light. Her long cape fluttering like wings spread wide, truly a vision of the wings of justice. The sword was the girl herself striving to overtake the monster. At last, this girl with the name of Astrea, the goddess of justice, carved in her back had the monster of calamity in her grasp.
Skull Reaper: AAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!
Strangely enough, all this was unfolding in midair in the center of the room. As the monster raised its right arm of bone to intercept this pursuit that had left it no escape route, Ryuu released one of the three remaining orbs.
Ryuu: Kaguya!
As if responding to the cry of a companion in arms, the orb raced forward like a fencer throwing off cutting wind. The orb pulverized the monster's last remaining section of arm, its last weapon.
Skull Reaper:—
The impact of the explosion sent the monster's trunk swimming through space. Ryuu soared very close to it and then overtook it, dancing over its head. The instant her powerful momentum vanished...her body slowly rotated, as if time had been cut away from that patch of air. Her legs were stretched toward the heavens, her head toward the ground. The Skull Reaper twisted its massive body so that it was looking up at her from directly below her eyes.
Ryuu: Lyra.
She called forth the glowing orb quietly and it approached her feet as she began to fall. It was like an older sister pushing her forward with a smile. Tears gathered in Ryuu's eyes, and the next moment the impact hit her feet. She became a shooting star falling downward. And last:
Ryuu: Alise...
The final orb of light flew to Ryuu palm. She had wanted judgment. She had wanted redemption. She had wanted to die and join her friends. She had been afraid to overcome the past. She had been terrified of forgetting the past. If she could have, she would have taken back her past and made it right. But now. Now she wanted the future.
For its sake— The monster's huge form was approaching. It had lost both arms, but its red eyes still stared up at her in a daze. Like her, this symbol of her past was battered from top to bottom. Ryuu held the orb of light in her right hand and raised it. She was sure that in the light of the beautiful glowing sphere, she saw her friend's hand on top of her own. A tear fell from her sky-blue eyes as she spoke with quivering lips.
Ryuu: Good-bye.
Good-bye to the lingering shadow of her friends. Good-bye to those bygone days. Good-bye to the past that she must overcome. Ryuu said her farewell to everything, and then she roared.
Ryuu: Luvia!!
A violent explosion.
Sora: !
The huge glowing sphere crashed into the monster's chest. As if it were receiving all the skill of the girl who had protected Ryuu and saved her, it flowered into a circle of light. Unable to defend itself, without even a dying scream or a roar of fury or resentment, the Skull Reaper burst quietly into pieces. A piercing melody of light and wind rang out as the monster's body transformed into innumerable fragments.
Ryuu watched the falling shards turn to ash like any other monster and then closed her eyes, drained of every last bit of energy. Her tears scattered into the air.
Sora: Ryuu?!
Ryuu and the remnants of the Skull Reaper drifted down into the center of the room like a meteor shower. As the monster's ash swirled in a smoky haze, Sora watched, unable in his injured state to dash to Ryuu's side carrying Bell slowly to the center of the room and gazed at the whitish smoke hanging in the air.
Sora: Aah...!
He saw an elven form hovering at a distance. Gradually its silhouette came into focus and the figure stepped forward out of the smoke. It was the battered Ryuu. She met his eyes and curved her lips up ever so slightly. Sora smiled back in relief. The room was entirely still aside from the three of them.
They had beaten the calamity. Still smiling, they walked forward slowly, as if they were seeking each other out. But before they reached each other, Sora stumbled. His body tilted forward. Ryuu's did the same. Although they were only steps apart, their knees buckled and with a crash they tumbled to the ground.
Sora:......
Bell:......
Ryuu:......
Blood was erupting from their bodies, which were no more than walking wounds. Their breathing was shallow. They could hardly feel their hands and feet. They could hardly see the hazy world. They were close enough for Ryuu to place her right hand over Sora's right hand. The three of them lay facedown on the cold Dungeon floor.
Sora:...We won, didn't we?
Ryuu...Yes.
Sora:...And now we can go home.
Ryuu:...Yes.
Their voices were faint. They did not look at each other as they formed smiles that were not really smiles. A future in which they returned to the surface had become no more than a dream that they shared, its boundary with reality blurred. No adventurers remained in that room. There was only burned-out ash. They were like birds that had flown to the heavens and back only to lose their wings. Gray snow, White embers and the fading vestiges of an elf. That was all.
The howls of monsters echoed in the distance. As if the stillness that the monster of calamity had presided over was a lie, the darkness thundered. The pounding of countless feet twined with roars heading toward the room where Sora, Bell and Ryuu lay. They could not stand. They could not move a muscle. The darkness stared down at them.
Ryuu:...Sora.
Sora:...Yes.
Ryuu:...I...lo...you...
Sora:......
Ryuu did not finish her thought. The light faded from their eyes as they gazed to the side. As if they were going to sleep, they closed their eyes. By the time the roaring monsters reached the room, their bodies had ceased moving.
Their adventures had ended.
They had beat the calamity but lost to the Dungeon.
They had failed to escape the maze.
Like many adventurers before them, Sora, Ryuu and Bell were swallowed up by the darkness of the deep levels—
Lido:—, —chi, —rachi!!
Or so it had seemed.
Lido:—Sora-chi!!
The volley of the monsters' roars—the roars that sounded exactly like monsters communicating with companions some distance away—turned into words in human language. Within the dimness of his world, Sora sensed a shadow falling over his body. His eyelids fluttered open as his body was lifted in someone's arms.
Lido: They're alive, they're alive!!
Gros: Tell the humans!
Following an explosion of joyful roars, familiar voices echoed in his ears. Sora understood that he had been turned on his back, and a pair of eyes was peering down at him.
Sora: Wiene...
Those very same round amber eyes that he had wanted to see for so long.
Wiene: Papa, Papa!
Tears spilled from the amber eyes and dampened Sora's cheeks. The sparkling red stone in the girl's forehead glistened as if it, too, was crying. Sora tried to brush the tears from her face, only to remember that he could not move at all. He tried at least to smile, but failed at that as well. Finally he managed to move the muscles in his cheeks and raise the corners of his mouth very slightly. The girl with the amber eyes responded with a huge grin.
Lili: Master Bell! Master Sora!
Welf: Bell!! Sora!!
Rin: Soraaaa....! Beeeeell....!
Lunoire: Ryuu!
Chloe: She's over there~nya!
Sora could hear other familiar voices in the distance. The voices of their friends who had found them. The curtain had fallen on their adventure; they had lost to the Dungeon. But Sora, Bell, and Ryuu's hopes had not been crushed. The three of them had not given up hope. Instead they had risked death to fight the monster, and that fight had called their companions to their side. The ties of friendship they had pulled toward them had beaten the Dungeon.
Moving quicky, the monsters who had gathered at their sides hurried away. Their jobs were done, although they would continue to watch over the trio from the shadows. Their presence remained near, as if to whisper their reassurances. The only two Xenos who remained with the adventurers were the dragon girl and the harpy disguised in hoods and robes. The harpy lifted Ryuu and held her close.
Fia: She's alive!
Wiene: Papa! Thank goodness!
Ryuu:...Sora.
Sora:...Yes.
The tearful, joyful voices of the friends who had called their names drew closer. Ryuu looked Sora in the eye and smiled.
Ryuu: We can...go home.