The moment they climbed down to the first floor from outside and saw the open side gate from a distance away, Rom knew something wasn't right. Financier would never leave any doors wide open like that, especially when it was nighttime.
But Ram was trampling her way through the snow, making a beeline for the garden, and if she turned back now, the maids would definitely spot them. So she didn't say anything and followed behind her twin.
She should have spoken up. Told Ram that she didn't want to see a ghost, even if it was real.
At the very least, when someone yelled "CommLinx Activated!" and a bunch of glowing phantoms fled out of the garden, she shouldn't have transformed and flown after them.
She couldn't keep up with Ram, she couldn't even tell Miss C-Sha which street she was on, and one of these glowing phantoms had blown a hole on the Basilicom's outer wall and if they were ganging up on Ram now—
"Hey! Kid! Stop flying and come down here, chu!"
She flung an ice cube at the yelling rat out of reflex. It let out a shrill squeak and leaped away, causing the projectile to miss.
"Seriously, kid! That's just rude, chu!" The rat made an obscene gesture, as she landed on the pavement. "I mean no harm, chu, and I know where your sister is!"
"Really—?" Rom perked up, before she remembered something. That nasty ASIC girl had a rat companion, right? Maybe someone like her was behind the ghost attack. Maybe they were trying to get her alone and kidnap her again.
"H-How do I know that you aren't lying?"
"Look, kid, I don't wanna be out at this hour either," The rat sighed. "But a little girl is forcing us to do her bidding with some freaky blood magic, and I really don't wanna find out what will happen if I don't follow her instructions—"
Frowning, Rom clutched her staff even tighter.
"That," a voice suddenly came out of the walkie-talkie on the rat's belt, "is not the most appropriate way to describe the terms of your community service."
"Am I wrong, chu?" The rat slapped its forehead. "Listen, kid, your sister is on the other side of this district! Keep flying south, until you see an amusement park with a giant banana boat in it! That's where the explosion sounds are coming from, according to the other rats. My job here is done, chu!"
Without elaborating further, it scurried into the alleyways. Rom hesitated a little, before she flew up again, and started heading in the direction that the rat mentioned. Still, that voice...
"Miss Tendo?"
As C-Sha dashed around the street corner, she could see a giant crater where a small post office used to stand. No ice. It wasn't Ram's magic. People were starting to come out of the houses in their pajamas and night blankets, with a dazed look on their faces.
"Please stay calm!" She yelled to the crowd, then turned to the Guild crews behind her, "Take them to the designated shelter! Don't let anyone get near that street!"
C-Sha caught a glimpse of cyan hair besides a lamppost, before the woman sprinted away in the opposite direction, towards the rest of the crowd. She almost forgot that Rei was staying inside this sector too.
Soon, the blue glow of Ram's magic sailed across the night sky. On the street below, multiple golden human silhouettes scurried away, before the attack froze all of them inside a giant block of ice. A blinding flash of light soon tore through the crystal, sending shards flying everywhere.
"Ugh! Stop exploding, you...dummy ghosts!"
"Rammy!" C-Sha yelled at her, who was still floating above the streets. "What's going on here? And where's your sister?"
"These ghosts split up—" Ram flew closer, and pointed at the newly formed crater, "And she went after some of them! They kept blowing up when they got hit, but that big kaboom takes out the last few ones."
"Ram? Ram?" A scared voice cried, from a distance away. "Are you still there? I heard the explosion!"
"Yeah! C-Sha's here, too!" Ram sent out a small burst of light with her staff. "This way!"
Before long, Rom's small silhouette appeared on the horizon. She practically crashed into Ram, almost knocking her twin off-balance as she pulled her into her arms.
"You are okay! I thought I'd never find you, until a rat..."
"Ow! Hey, it's fine. I'm fine." Ram patted her on the shoulder. "These ghosts are super dumb, really. If they didn't blow up while running away, they'd be a lot less annoying. But I've gotten all of them—!"
A strange humming sound rang through the air, as if someone was playing multiple string instruments in front of a giant fan. C-Sha turned towards the direction of the noise, just in time to see a wave of colorful light, rippling out of the Basilicom windows and lighting up the night sky.
"...What is that?"
C-Sha clenched her fists together. This was far from a simple attack. She should have known it from the beginning.
"I think someone is trying to lure you away from the Basilicom." Seeing the twins' shocked faces, she added, "Don't worry, Blanny is on her way back. Let's see if we can stop them in time."
"I think we can all agree that putting this artifact in the Life Rune category is a serious misclassification. In fact, the 'reversal' aspect of this rune bears more similarity to common patterns seen on Time—"
"Bach Synthesis."
Verdna heard these two words, loud and clear. Judging from the baffled look on the scholars' face, they heard it too, before everything exploded in a wave of rainbow light.
It hit her. She didn't know how, but she was...thrown backward. Her entire vision started spinning, and a janky rhythm was playing in her head, growing louder and louder until it completely drowned out the alarmed cries, the footsteps, and the sound of glass breaking—
Then a thick blackness descended upon her, and there was only silence.
Every single person out in the open must have seen that light explosion. The rats were making frantic reports about the ongoing evacuation.
Sorry, Utsugi. I may have to fire a few more shots here, unlike last time.
Switching off her walkie-talkie, Rubis rushed through the hole on the Basilicom's outer wall and headed straight for the building proper. The Basilicom might have been renovated a hundred times, but one object would always stay where it was. And if there was one thing she must protect during an emergency...
After she entered the main gate, she soon came across the first guard, pressing his hands against a wall and staggering along the hallway. He gasped at the sound of her footsteps.
"Hey! Is anyone there?"
"Yes. I'm part of the reinforcement. What's wrong?"
"I hear a weird symphony, and—" He groaned. "Now all I can see is this...spinning rainbow LSD effect! Gosh, my head hurts."
Rubis didn't see any visible injury to his eyes or head. A psychic or illusory attack, perhaps. "Try not to move too much. Stay where you are. Have you run into anyone else on your way here?"
"Literally. Tripped over one of my colleagues. He...He's gone blind too, I think," the man said, as he sat down on the floor.
"Thanks. Don't worry. Help is on the way." It was a white lie. The twins had strayed pretty far in their chase, and her successor, even though she must have been notified by this point, would take even longer to get back. But lies and mild comfort were all she could offer now. Please, fly faster.
Running past more incapacitated servants and staff, she quickly made her way through the west tower, until she reached the old wooden door of the Basilicom chapel. Was Rubis visiting this place at a better time, she might have smiled at the lock pad mounted on the door. Back in her days, if an Oracle couldn't open the door with her own magic, she wouldn't have been chosen for the job in the first place.
Thankfully, the enchantment on the door still recognized her Shares, however weak it was, and it swung open with a thud.
Paying no attention to the furniture and drapery, Rubis headed straight for the passage behind the altar, no longer disguised by illusory magic. There was a burnt smell in the air. Before she even made her way to the other end, she could see the charred marks on the metal door and the giant hole right next to it. Looked like the Nitendium alloy was still too tough for the intruder—they went for the surrounding wall instead.
She gripped her revolver even tighter, as she inched her way into the opening.
There were no lights in the room, but the brilliant blue glow of the giant Sharecite crystal was enough to illuminate the entire space. The three golden phantoms that surrounded it were but faint shadows in comparison. Silently, she raised her pistol and aimed it at the gold and scarlet wings of the floating silhouette.
"Lady Rubis." The teenage girl turned back, revealing the incomplete power symbol in her eyes, the two triangular accessories on her head, and the smaller Sharecite crystals she was holding in her arms. "Please, put down your weapon. These phantoms can explode on my command, and for someone who loves Lowee more than anything, you shouldn't be taking...unnecessary risks."
After a brief pause, she lowered her revolver, bent down, and placed it on the ground.
"A little further than that, please. Out of your arms' reach."
She gave the revolver a small kick, sending it sliding all the way across the floor. "This is the second time that a complete stranger has mentioned me by human name. I'm flattered, really."
"You are no stranger to me, Lady Rubis." A grimness crawled into the Candidate's voice. "Ruby Heart killed my older sister, back in my world."
"Is that why you are here?"
"Maria would want me to destroy your Sharecite, regardless of which Lowee it is." She lowered her head. "But she's dead. Tari is gone. And I have no interest in avenging a dead nation that doesn't exist in this world. I'm doing this...for someone dear to me. Someone who deserves a peaceful, happy life we could never have. I'm sure you can understand, Lady Rubis."
Rubis made a small nod, without saying anything. Ruby Heart would have begun a lengthy tirade on the futility of revenge, and the importance of placing the greater good above individual attachments by now, but out of all the difference her HDD Form could make (if she still had it), that had to be the least helpful one.
"Please, say hello to Dameko for me. If she's still here."
The moment she finished speaking, the three phantoms rushed back to the Candidate.
A card slid out of her sleeves. Before the shockwave hit, a barrier was up around the Sharecite—incomplete and weak, but better than nothing. The entire room shook at the explosion, as the ceiling at the far end came crumbling down. Without looking back, she dashed across the room, towards the fast vanishing silhouette, and readied her second card—
"Hototogisu!"
An arc of energy cut through the air. The Candidate, soaring out of the opening on the ceiling, let out a scream when it hit her in the back. Like a kite with its string cut, she tumbled through the air and reverted to her human form, before she even hit the ground. A light began to glow around her as she struggled to climb up, still clutching the Sharecites.
It fizzled out when Rubis leaped out of the opening and flung the card at her chest, knocking her back down. She didn't get up again.
For a few seconds, she just stared at the girl's limp form, panting. The card didn't even fly all the way back when she snapped her fingers. It fell right in front of her, with a barely audible clang. As Rubis bent down to pick it up, a dizzy spell struck her, and she almost knelt over. So much faith, just for one attack. If her successor didn't return soon—
A sharp humming sound. Then, a chain tightened around her neck.
A glowing chain slammed someone into the Basilicom wall, just as C-Sha ran through the outer gate. Still on a mad dash, she fired her C-Buster in that direction, without stopping to aim. The wielder of the chain sidestepped towards the limp body on the ground, and swung the suited girl over their shoulder in one swift movement.
A white beacon of light shot into the sky, right before Rom's ice cubes came raining down on the lawn. When it faded away, the first thing C-Sha saw was a pair of huge, beetle-like wings, glimmering with a bright metallic sheen. Then, the glowing eyes and cyan hair. Dodging past the giant chunk of ice Ram hurled at her, the CPU soared up, completely unhindered by the person they were carrying.
"Don't let her fly away!"
The twin took off after her. Ram's magic coalesced into a giant ice sword at the tip of her staff, and with a swing of Rom's staff, four sparkling orbs of magic flew into the night sky, homing in on a single target—
A sharp clank pierced through the air. No, more than a clank. It was like multiple dissonant orchestras, all playing at the same deafening volume. C-Sha immediately covered her ears, but the headache still hit hard, and when the weird rainbow light in her vision faded away, the twins were falling towards the ground. C-Sha barely caught Rom in time. With a flash of light, she was back in her human form.
"Rommy! Are you alright?!"
"Miss C-Sha?" Rom clutched onto her arm. The confusion on her face was quickly replaced by panic, as she started crying. "I can't see you...I can't s-see anything!"
"Rom!" A yelp, followed by a loud thud. "Where are you?"
C-Sha raised her head, just in time to see Ram standing up from the lawn. Her steps were unsteady, and she was pacing around in a circle, flailing her arms wildly. Still carrying a sobbing Rom, C-Sha quickly made her way towards Ram and knelt down next to her.
"She's here. Don't you worry. Can you see me, Rammy?"
"No! That...creepy beetle CPU!" Ram lost her balance and fell onto C-Sha. "S-She just knocked her chains together, and—"
"The rainbow...light..." Rom whimpered, still fumbling for her twin's hand. "It really hurts. Where is...big sis?"
"She's coming, she's coming back soon—"
Before C-Sha even finished her sentence, a blurry white shadow zoomed across the sky. White Heart's axe crashed into the ground, as she came to a halt in front of them.
"I'm here! I came as fast as I could!" Her eyes widened when she saw the twins, now huddled together in C-Sha's arms. "What the fuck just happened?!"
"There was an attack on the Basilicom. They tried to lure the twins away." C-Sha took a deep breath. "We got back here, right before one of them transformed. The twins flew after her, but that CPU had some kind of blinding attack, and it...hit both of them."
C-Sha winced as White Heart pulled all three of them into a crushing hug. She was gripping C-Sha's vest so tightly that it was starting to hurt.
"I'm so sorry, Blanny. I should've known better, when they first called me." C-Sha closed her eyes. "If I sent someone to check on the Basilicom first, this might not have—"
"Bloody hell! Don't you start blaming yourself, C-Sha!" White Heart's voice was cracking up, as she ran her other hand through the twins' hair. "I'm the one who's late!"
"Rom. Ram. The bitch who did this to you? Mark my words. She's going to be fucking DEAD, once I track down her sorry ass."
There were a thousand things Rubis could have done differently, before that chain-wielding CPU showed up.
But she didn't. She still fancied herself as this unstoppable warrior Goddess she was at her prime, who had it all under control. Oh, how human she really was, and how late she had realized that.
Lowee's night never felt this cold, as she lay among the fallen bricks, trying her best to keep her eyes open. She could feel every broken bone and bruise, after being slammed into the wall like a ragdoll. The little bit of faith left in her stopped the worst of the bleeding, but it was running out fast.
This was truly a fitting end for her. Dying under the starry sky, alone and forgotten. She wouldn't even be a martyr, unlike her two successors—too eager to take on a mantle they were never meant to bear, to sacrifice themselves in the name of their nation.
Where do you think we go after death, Dameko? Do you think we'd still linger in this world, as a mere fragment of memory, a shadow of our former selves, or perhaps there is an afterlife for us? Do you think Rokushi and Delphinus would be there, waiting for me, cursing me for the fate I've subjected them to? I'd never want to see you there, if such a place exists.
If you really hate me, please outlive me. Please prove to yourself that you will not let me shackle you, even in death.
She was hearing footsteps in the distance. Soon, Asa's scowling face entered her view, eyeing her with a mixture of anger, pity, and...something else.
Right before she closed her eyes, and let the darkness and cold take over, an object was shoved into her hand.