Volume Twelve: Festival Captivity

Earthland-1, Waas Forest, X790: Ultear

"Shou..." Jellal whispered.

The star mage's bleeding fist still quivered in the air as he pressed futilely on the crack in the universe. For the first time in years, the old death wish coiled in Ultear's belly. No. No coward's way out. Never again. She took a deep breath. "Jellal. I'm sorry," she whispered.

"We knew we couldn't be gods," he whispered back. Tears trickled down his cheeks. "Next time, we must be ready." Ultear nodded. Meredy gulped, hands clasped over her mouth. "This Daphne. I think I recognize her. I can't remember where."

"You were in Black Vox together," Ultear prodded. "I don't know why. I can look her up."

"Please," Jellal said, slowly pulling his fist back. The break in the dimensional barrier healed. His bleeding knuckles didn't. Neither did his heart. "We need to know what her base magic is. We can also assume that her counterpart is more powerful and dangerous after being trained by Hades."

Meredy lowered her hands. "Jellal," she breathed.

"I'll be all right. We were never going to save everyone, but we must prepare for Grimoire's wards. I will not watch helplessly again." His voice was gut-wrenching in its neutrality. Ultear nodded. "Work on modeling future paths without risking a lock on them through the Observation Effect."

"Of course." Ultear prepped her crystal ball for the effort. "We should rest for now. I've frozen progress on the timeline. They'll wait for us."

"Good. This isn't a hobby any longer. It never should have been." Jellal walked to the forest's edge before Ultear could remind him that they had never treated it like one.

"I'm worried about him," Meredy noted.

"We'll make it right," Ultear said. If only I was as confident as I sounded.