Monika woke up while feeling someone hit her head real hard. She felt dizzy and dumb on her senses: "What is this place…?" She mutters. Everywhere she sees is filled with darkness. At first she thought her eyes were damaged but when she pulled out a glow stick, she finally got to see the place around her. Apparently it is filled with empty display cases but seemingly no one has been taking care of this place for ages.
Monika tried to walk but immediately also tripped because there's a round stick on the floor. She put her glowstick on it and suddenly a cold shivering feeling ran down her spine. Out of instinct, Monika ducked down and turned around immediately.
She then sees two gunfire flashes from not very far away. She deflects the bullet based on where the sound came from and throws a plasma grenade at the place where she thought the gun fire came from.
Suddenly, she felt something hit her back, blunt force caused her to almost fall on the ground, but due to the special enhancement, she is kind of invulnerable in a way but not immune to blunt force.
Monika is fighting in the dark, there is no way she is able to fight an enemy without knowing where they are. She phases out a flare gun and starts shooting everywhere around her.
But without exception, every single shot she did were for some reason snuffed out in mid air. Just when she is dead confused about what just happened, a bullet shoots her forehead, out of lack of balancing, she falls and stops moving. Of course she is using this opportunity to bait whatever was shooting her to come.
"Heh." A scoff came from the darkness, but it was enough for Monika to know where this person was. She threw a dozen swords towards where the sound came with pinpoint accuracy. At first, there is only the noise of a sword hitting the ground, but eventually something sounds like a metal pipe hitting another came from that location. Using this time, she finally managed to shoot up a flare that lights the entire area.
This is the time when she finally sees whoever was attacking her. It is someone similar build as Monika but in black ops special forces armor rig. She has a night vision visor on her head but seeing the surrounding area is already well lit, she took off the visor. She has the exact same face as Monika.
On her chest rig, there is a name stitched on it written: Knight. After everything that has happened, Monika could already tell what has happened in this place. This is a place where the archivist put Monikas who he is not able to control.
"Very interesting." Knight points her rifle at Monika: "So, you're invulnerable?"
"Not invulnerable enough for you to keep shooting me!" Monika changes her jacket, it is already full of holes: "Can we please stop fighting each other?"
"You are not one of those us aren't you?" Knight chuckles. But the gun did not point away.
"What do you mean by that?" Monika asks. She is also holding firmly on her sword, the tension did not ease even though their conversation is rather casual.
"This is the place where the archivist disposes of those who he does not deem useful or too powerful for him to control. What is your story?" Knight is rather interested in Monika.
"Why would I tell you anything? Literally everything you've been doing since the first second you saw me is to kill me!"
"My, aren't you a fierce spirit? Well, since you're so nice. I will also show some sign of trust." Knight puts away her weapon: "Well, why don't I formally introduce myself. My name is Monika Vermillion. But you can call me by my ops name: Knight. I was working under a special forces unit commanded by Noelle Terra. What about you? Did you grow up in a rather luxurious life because you're surely acting like a little princess."
"Not even close. But I am a captain with my own squad."
"Well, I'm a Major so I kind of outrank you. I also finished my master studies in academia of commerce and I have a PHD in xeno autonomy."
"You're as annoying as Nova on this…"
"Who's Nova?" Knight sounds rather surprised: "Is she a relative of yours?"
"Wait, you never had a sister or some sort?" This is also the first time that she met a Monika that doesn't have a Nova around.
"No, I was an only child. But based on your skill and the way you speak, maybe I absorbed her fetus."
"How can you speak like this with a straight face…" Monika felt revolted. But she cannot deny the possibility.
Knight chuckles she kind of likes Monika because of how different they are: "So, do you want to leave this place?"
"Well, I'd like to if that's possible."
"Sorry to burst your bubbles, but if it's possible. I'd left this place a while ago. You don't really age or feel thirst or even sweat because your metabolism rather stops in this dimension." Knight let out a sigh: "Do you have any idea?"
"No. But I do have some weapons from other worlds." Monika then pulls out a sword that can summon a wave of tsunami out of nowhere.
"Huh…" Knight pauses to think: "Do you have a weapon that allows your bullet to hit the target's head with 100% accuracy."
"No, and even if I have it, I would not give it to you."
"Aw, I thought we were just becoming friends…" Knight is seemingly hurt by Monika's refusal: "Anyways, do you think we can enter your little dimensional pocket and leave from somewhere else?"
"I… I never thought about doing this."
"This is why I am the Major and you're just a captain."
"Gosh… I hate you so much… But I never tried to do that, I only once went in by accident." Monika is trying her best to remember but it only happened because her body was taken over by another being. She then pulls out a notebook which Trazyn wrote to learn how to use magic: "My..eh…" Monika doesn't know how to call Trazyn, she only refers to him as Traz, and she doesn't happen to reference him outside of her little group: "My partner, he made a note about magic and how to wield it. I tried to understand it but…"
"I'll take a crack at it." Knight takes over the book and sits on the ground reading it: "Huh… your partner is utilizing necron hyper logic to decipher the magical property and make it applicable to your reality." Knight then looks at Monika: "Is Trazyn your partner?"
"Yes, is he yours?"
"Kind of, in a way. We used to work a few times because the xeno threat was kind of serious. We had some fun, but he's always been more of a machine than a man." Knight looks at Monika: "Did your Trazyn…. Become different?"
"Yes… he found a way to become a human."
"Oh." Knight lightly twitched her eyebrows.
"What happened to your Trazyn?"
"I killed him." Knight replied without hesitation: "He eventually became an obstacle. He didn't put up a fight really."
"If you are that powerful, how did you end up here?" Monika asks.
"Is it really hard to guess? The archivist overpowered me. Kinda just like you." Knight answered while still going through the note.
"Well, he did not overpower me, I was kicking his ass. Then he banished me into this place, kind of a loser move if you ask me." Monika is trying to act tough, but the archivist's move is indeed out of her expectation. Sure she can overpower him in a fight, but she could not anticipate a banishment attack.
"Whatever you say…" Knight suddenly had something in her mind that lit up like a lightbulb: "I think I got it." She stood up and drew something in the air. Suddenly, a flash of light came from thin air and soon it disappeared: "Just like I thought."
"What is it?" Monika asks.
"This note is like an instruction manual, it explains everything perfectly clearly. And you can master the entire book if you have enough time and precision. Your Trazyn is actually a genius." Knight then looks at Monika in a disappointed way: "You don't deserve him."
"Hey!" Monika pouts: "I…" Monika deeply knows that Knight is right: "You don't have to say it outloud.."
"Now…" Knight then gave a tape which has the instruction of Trazyn's note to Monika: "Why don't you also try this? Pretty sure the missing intellect in your head didn't all go to your breasts didn't it?"
"We have the same body type…"
"But I am clearly smarter."
"..." Monika then takes over the tape while sounding rather mad. But she didn't deny any of the words Knight said to her.
"Now, why don't you start? And I will give you some feedback." Knight lies on the ground while crossing her legs, looking like she's about to sleep.
"What are you going to do?"
"Give you feedback." Knight then closes her eyes.
"But you're not doing anything!"
"Well, I am not one that is full of muscles instead of having an averagely functioning brain." Knight then lets Monika begin.
Even Monika did the pronunciation and action with perfect precision, not even a single spark has come out. After some really long time, finally she managed to create a spark that lasted for about half of a second out of thin air.
"That was pathetic…" Knight sighed as she looked at Monika's result. But her words were very soft so it didn't hurt Monika's pride much.
Monika then tries again and again until she finally manages to create a small flame that lasts around 2 seconds before it burns out.
"Better than last time…" Knight keeps her tone softer.
"But still not nearly enough to be able to use magic." Monika now starts to feel a little frustrated: "How can I ever reach my full potential if I cannot even create even a simple spark?" Monika slightly raised her voice.
"You need to keep practicing. It's okay to get angry sometimes, but you should not let it stop you from moving forward." Knight speaks calmly: "You could've used that anger to make yourself stronger."
"If you are so good, why don't you do it yourself?!" Monika finally had enough after more failures.
"He left the note for you..." Knight quietly said.
"I..." Monika took a really deep breath and finally calmed down.
"Let's practice again," Knight suggested: "I'll do it with you this time."
"Okay..." Monika agreed, and they both started practicing again.
After probably days, they finally are able to stabilize a portal: "Now. We just need to find the coordinate of our destination..." Knight stretched her arms, all of those practicing is really time consuming and tiring.
"You think we will be able to go back with this?" Monika is exhausted as well, but she did not want to admit it.
"Do you doubt yourself?" Knight asked Monika.
"No! Not at all! Of course not!" Monika immediately denied: "It's just... what are you going to do?"
"I have nothing to be missed from my old world. But I will surely kill the archivist." Knight answered.
"You think you are strong enough to defeat the archivist?" Monika asks.
Knight just shrugged her shoulders: "Not sure, but are there any more things to do? Now... think about the place where the archivist first brought you. Try to visualize it and keep your breath's pacing."
Monika closed her eyes and concentrated on the spot where the archivist sent her to. She visualized how many steps she had walked towards that location and tried to remember the view that was in front of him when he teleported her there.
"I got something." Knight then looks up: "That is our destination..." She looked at the place outside of the library where Monika left the younger version of herself. Suddenly, they saw younger Monika fly out of the library and slided on the ground for a few good seconds.
"Damn, the archivist has gotten to her." Monika tried to go through the portal but she couldn't. As if there's an invisible wall blocking both of them from going out. Cold sweat dripping from her face, she pulls out an axe, trying to smash through the invisible wall. But it kept bouncing the weapons off of it.
"Why isn't it working?!" Monika is panicking as Knight is also unable to help her out. Knight is going through the note, trying to find a solution for this. But nothing is remotely related to what they are facing at the moment.
Monika is still trying to hit the invisible barrier, even with her full strength, the result remains the same. Her legs are shaking because of all the effort and pain: "Ughhh..." She dropped her weapon, tears forming in her eyes: "Even I possess all this strength... I am still not able to change anything..." She now started crying hard: "What kind of destiny did I get... no... how come I'm cursed like this...?"
"Monika... please stop." Knight finally found an answer on the note: "We need an artifact to activate the barrier. Something that is able to generate enough energy but also is able to store an immense amount of energy."
Monika remembered the necklace Trazyn gave her many moons ago, she took it off and put it in Knight's hand: "Please take care of this..."
Knight could tell that this necklace means a lot, she then hovers the necklace in front of the barrier and draws a mystic pattern in the air. Suddenly, the necklace starts glowing in intense golden light and seemingly absorbing the barrier. It looks like a miniature nuclear explosion happened at the end. Monika immediately covers her ears due to the loud noise. When the dust settled down, Knight went through the portal. Monika follows after her step by step without hesitation or fear. Once inside the other dimension, Knight falls to the ground while panting heavily. Monika quickly ran over to Knight who looked like she had just run a marathon: "Are you okay?"
"I can't move..." Knight is as if spent all of her energy trying to cross the portal. The Archivist at this moment also came out of the library trying to finish off the younger version of Monika. But when he saw the girl, his face suddenly turned pale as white as snow: "How in the world..." He runs away with great speed, but there was nothing more that Monika wanted than killing him. Monika dashes forward and catches up with the Archivist and slams him against the wall with immense strength. Even though the archivist has enhanced power armor and a gauntlet that can absorb energy, he is still unable to resist Monika's power and gets slammed into the floor, leaving large cracks on the walls behind them.
Monika slowly walked towards the Archivist: "It's over..." She is still breathing heavily from crossing through the barrier, she points her sword at the archivist's throat.
"W-Why are you here!?" The archivist panicked: "You should not have come back..."
"You know why I'm back." Monika gave the archivist no time to think before kicking him in his gut while holding her breath. With an even greater force than usual, Monika sends him flying to hit every single bookshelf inside of the library until it collapses around him.
"You damn monster! Are you trying to kill me!?" The archivist got himself out of the rubble, he now glared at Monika.
"If you don't stop doing whatever you're trying to accomplish... then yes. I'll do my best to make sure your sinful life ends right here, right now!" Monika roared with anger and sadness at the same time: "I won't forgive you EVER with everything you've done..."
The archivist kept his distance as Monika looked like she would go berserk if she lost her temper. Monika sighed heavily and finally took a deep breath. But as she was about to speak again, Knight came in between Monika and the archivist, standing protectively in front of him: "It's enough." She stopped both of them before anything else happened.
"Knight, what are you doing?" Monika is confused. She doesn't understand why Knight is trying to stop her from killing that man. She never had this kind of feeling for any other person.
"I know you are very angry, but you are not going to help anyone by killing the Archivist," Knight said quietly yet firmly: "You need to keep calm..."
"But..." Monika just stood there silently; she knows what she wants to do but also knows that it will not bring any good result. After some time, she decided to give up and walked towards her younger self: "Are you ok?" Monika kneels down and tries to check her wound. The girl does look really pale due to some broken ribs; however her condition seems to be stable because of her enhanced body.
"Did we win...?" The younger Monika said faintly.
"Yes. We won." Monika gave her a smile and pats the back of her head gently.
"I am sorry. I didn't find a way to leave this place... He found me before I could do more." She coughs some blood out of her mouth.
"Please, rest. You bought us enough time..." Monika gently placed her younger self against a wall: "You have done more than enough."
Monika then stood up and headed to where Knight and the Archivist were: "What do we do with him?" She asks Knight. Knight is looking at the archivist with disgust written across her face as she mutters to herself.
"I'm gonna kill him," Knight answered with hatred.
"Did you stop me because you wanted to kill him yourself?" Monika asks.
"Yes, he destroyed my world. And killed countless lives. For that, he will not go unpunished." Knight pulls out a revolver loaded with bolter rounds and points against the Archivist's forehead: "And I don't want you to get the thrill of vengeance, trust me, it only gets worse."
Monika got a sad look in her eyes: "Don't worry about it..." Her voice softens: "We can always make sure no one else dies from his actions... That way we won't need to take revenge ourselves..." She pulls out her necklace again: "We should seal him inside and prison him forever to let him ponder everything he has done."
Knight shook her head while holding the gun ready for her final shot. "That would be a waste of time and resources. There are so many people who have lost their lives because of his mistakes. And what happens if the artifact is broken? There are too many risks."
"You know this better than anyone, but there is another option that could save everyone without taking any risk at all. If we put him inside of the Solemnace Galleries, we can seal away both him and the artifact, ensuring nobody ever finds out how to break the barrier and release him." Monika said.
Knight then puts down her weapon and puts it back to her holster: "You're right. I need him to suffer the same imprisonment he did to me." She then pulls out the notebook again and chants a spell of imprisonment. The book glows a bright blue before wrapping around the archivist like an invisible chain binding him together. Then a dome appeared right on top of him.
"You do know that I've been indulging in your little talks for a while now?" The archivist stood up and got rid of the chain and dome like it's made of paper: "Now I have collected enough data to know how your 'magic' works." holographic symbols manifested around his gauntlet.
Overwhelming force suddenly fell upon Monika and Knight. Both of them are laying on the ground as if an elephant is standing on top of their shoulders. Knight tries to move but she is unable to budge at all: "It was my bad that I underestimated the potential damage you two would have done... I won't make that same mistake." The archivist manifested a sword from thin air. And grabs Knight by her neck: "I made a mistake keeping you alive. I will fix this now." He brought the blade over the knight, about to end her life.
"NO!" Monika's eyes shoot lasers out and knock the archivist away. But this is also painful for Monika because she is already not in her prime after all of those fighting. But this also disabled the invisible force that was applied on top of them. Knight immediately pulls out a rifle from her back and starts raining fire at the archivist.
"Gah! How did you break free!? What happened!?" The archivist got angry and shouted at Monika; however, he quickly rushed towards Knight to finish her off first: "How dare you! You insolent brat..." As he approaches, Knight just keeps firing, he does so until he has no bullets left. The archivist blocked the bullets but what's coming after is Monika's slash with an axe. This made him dodge while swinging his fist which caused him to hit some bookshelves before hitting the ground again. While still lying on the floor, he pointed his gauntlet towards Knight again. Monika had enough of this, she threw her axe with full strength and it made contact with the gauntlet. A blast separated everyone across the field, and it woke the younger Monika up from coma.
"H-Hey... are we safe...?" She said weakly as she sat up and noticed Knight unconscious right next to her.
Amist the dust, Monika and the archivist are staring at each other, the archivist's gauntlet is broken, and his face is seemingly furious about everything that had just happened so far. This goes the same for Monika, she has never felt so wanting to kill someone for a very long time: "This ends here," Monika says coldly and pulls out a great sword etched with the name 'world slayer'. Monika swung the great sword and a blast of shock wave was also released towards the archivist. Almost made him flinch on the spot.
The younger Monika who was sitting on the ground finally managed to get herself on her feet; even though her ribs were still painful after being stabbed earlier, this gave her the confidence she needed to fight back now that her mind is finally cleared. Even Monika is seemingly winning the battle but who knows if the archivist had anything more up his sleeves. The younger Monika drags Knight somewhere safer then proceeds to wake her up by slapping Knight's face. Surprisingly, it worked.
"Wake up, Knight." She shook Knight hard; the knight opened her eyes and immediately got up.
"What happened? Where are we?" Her vision started clearing and the pain from her wounds lessened with each second: "Wait a minute, how did you know about my nickname? Younger Monika pointed at the name tag: "Fair enough...while they are fighting, we need to prepare to leave this place." Knight said starts reading the notebook again. And starts drawing symbols on the ground with a piece of chalk: "I need you to think about your home." Knight said to younger Monika.
Younger Monika nodded. Suddenly, a portal appeared in front of them, the other side is the street of the city. Knight had seemingly improved the spell. Just when younger Monika is about to say more, Knight suddenly pushes her over the portal. Younger Monika is trying to come back but it is blocked by a magic barrier: "Go and tell the others." She then closes the portal.
Without time to complain, younger Monika drags her tiring body and eventually arrives at her home. Just when she was about to knock on the door, she fell into a coma due to her body not being able to handle all of the damage done to her body.
Little Monika opened the door as she thought someone dropped a package at the door. Seeing there's an older version of herself is laying on the doorstep. She screamed while sounding terrified. Making Minka come over and putting Monika on the ground to a bed: "Damn she went through a hell of a fight..."
While examining Monika, little Monika saw something wrapped inside Monika's shirt: "Is this...her journal?" Little Monika took out the leather-bound book. It is a note that is full of magical spells. Minka saw this and frowned. Then she carefully reads some of the little notes that are written by seemingly someone who has the exact same handwriting as Monika but is different. Because the word choice is very sophisticated and too advanced for anyone she knows. Then she saw a line of coordinate that is different from the one she has. Seemingly it is the hidden dimensional tunnel underneath the skin of reality.
"We can go back home now!" Little Monika cheers.
"Huh? What did you just say? "Minka looks at little Monika: "Your home is... the archivist's realm?"
"Yep! " Little Monika grins.
"Then who is the archivist to you?"
"Dad!" Little Monika said happily with a big smile.
"How in the world are you also the daughter of the Archivist..." Then she realized something: "Who is your mother?" Minka asks
"Mommy." Little Monika smiles even wider.
"Who exactly was your mommy?"
Little Monika thinks about it for a while before answering: "I don't know her name, but I do remember her face." She then pulls out a photo frame which is slightly scratched from a dimensional pocket. Minka took it and suddenly took a really long deep breath. The person that took the photo with little Monika was Lynine. Minka assumes that this little Monika was adopted by Lynine at some point because of something that had happened in the past.
"Okay then," Minka pats little Monika's head gently. And gives back the picture to little Monika: "Do you want to meet her?"
Little Monika's eyes are wide open: "Yes!" She replied excitedly. But just when she's going to ask more questions, she started coughing violently; it made it hard for her to breathe so much that she could barely stand up anymore.
Seeing how pale she got, Minka immediately picked her up and put her on the bed: "Stay there!" Minka pulls out a health monitoring device and starts analyzing the readings. When she read the infos, she couldn't help but let out a cold gasp. It is written as if she was hit by a truck. But one second ago. Everything has been fine. Minka is trying to think of everything that could possibly happen then she remembers going through a page where it has something written: Migration.
Minka turns at the page while stabilizing little Monika. She's right, It is a spell that can migrate damage on someone. Minka is pretty sure that the archivist is doing so to hold hostage against Monika because he is not winning the fight of strength. Which Minka is absolutely right about.
In the realm, the archivist is looking at both Knight and Monika in a taunting way: "Come, kill me." He then points at the spell icon on him: "If you kill me, she will also die." He then projects the real time image of Minka trying to save little Monika.
"Coward!" Monika points the world slayer at the archivist: "You're despicable scum!"
"Say all you want..." Archivist then released a wave of energy blast, as expected instead of trying to deflect it. Monika decided to dodge, because the world slayer will amplify any source of damage when inflicted on top of it then release at will. Seeing this, the archivist has an evil grin on his face: "Kneel. or I will stab myself right now." He then takes out a knife and stabs his shoulder; this also made little Monika on the other side scream in pain: "Oops, i lied."
Minka as if noticed that both of them are being watched: "Dad, if you are enjoying this? You're a piece of shit."
"Your opinion doesn't matter anymore, girlie," The archivist said with an evil smirk. Then he looks at these two in front of him: "I said KNEEL!"
Monika and Knight kneeled. Their expression is almost unexplainable, as it is mixed with too much emotion. Suddenly, the archivist walked in front of Monika and looked at her with an evil smirk: "Lick my shoes."
Monika ignored him. While purposely looking away.
Seeing this, the archivist kicks Monika in the stomach to make sure she understands who the boss is here. Then after kicking Monika repeatedly while she still refused to obey, he got up close to Monika's face and almost their noses touched each other. As a result, there is a short distance between them when they look eye to eye: "Man, aren't I enjoying this too much?"
Knight's brain is working at hyper speed. She is trying to find a way to break this spell. But she gave the notebook to Monika that went through the portal. She is going through every memory she has about the book, but nothing remotely similar is in there.
Even with Monika's almost invulnerable body, she is still able to sense pain. Besides, every kick from the archivist almost made her lift from the ground for a second or two: "Out of all the Monika i've seen in my life, you're the only one that had irritated me this much. Man, i am enjoying this." He then steps Monika on her head, pinning her face on the ground: "Say something. BEG ME FOR MERCY."
"I can't hear you, your voice is so far away." Monika whispers.
"Haha..." The archivist suddenly grabbed Monika by the neck, making her choke herself: "What a wonderful sight, isn't it? Just imagine what it would feel like if someone did this to little Monika." Monika instinctively tries to struggle off, but if she tries to do anything bluntly, surely the archivist will eventually kill little Monika.
Knight was feeling pretty bad, she saw the archivist brutally hurting Monika without any mercy. Yet, she doesn't see how both of them could do anything.
Suddenly, a noise as if bone breaking came from where Monika and the archivist are. Monika is laying on the ground covering where her bone was broken with her arms. but the archivist removes her hands and presses his finger inside into the wound.
A gasp of pain came out of Monika's mouth; hearing this the archivist got more excited: "Music to my ear." He then presses Monika on her throat, trying to finish her off.
Then Knight heard something really strange: "The other side." Then there was an explosion right next to the archivist: "What?" The archivist turned around to see who did that. A short distance away stands two figures, one is in power armor while holding a sniper rifle and the other is holding nothing but a staff.
"Traz..." Monika said it faintly.
"Yeah... it's me." Trazyn clicked the staff on the ground and a dome encircled the area, just like the one Minka did when they were sparring: "Sorry, I'm late." He then clicked another time, a magic circle appeared underneath: "You can come out now."
"Who?" The archivist asked.
"Me." Minka's eyes glow in golden light and immense force befalls upon the archivist, almost making him sink to the ground.
"You kill me, you kill that-'' he felt choked because little Monika peeks from behind Nova: "How in the world..." The archivist is shocked by everything that had just happened. But soon Minka's overwhelming psychic attack makes him feel intense burning all over his body.
Trazyn immediately teleported in front of Monika carrying her in his arms and out in a safe place : "I am so sorry...I-"
Monika's lips pressed on Trazyn's with all of the remaining strength she had left. She didn't say anything; she couldn't find words to speak anymore after what she experienced through this whole ordeal. So instead, she let out a few tears while hugging Trazyn tightly. While holding each other closely, Trazyn can sense how warm and soft Monika's skin feels against his own, as well as the beating heart inside her chest. It was truly a wonderful feeling that he will never forget for as long as he lived.
After some time passed by, Monika stopped crying but still held onto Trazyn: "I miss you, Trazyn."
"Same for me, my love," Trazyn whispered in response and gave a gentle kiss on Monika's forehead: "You're safe now." He then put down Monika gently onto the ground.
Without the help of gadgets and magic, the archivist is not nearly as powerful as someone like Minka. Like a turtle that just lost its shell, he puts his hands up and looks at Minka: "Dear daughter, I gave up."
"No more lies." Minka said. Then she raises her hand above her head and three small balls of light appear from it and shoot towards the archivist in different directions to pierce his body multiple times in the most painful way possible. As a result, every single shot of light causes the archivist to scream in pain yet doesn't kill him instantly because the power armor has protected him. However, each strike made him bleed profusely all over his body, making him covered with blood. He finally fell face first into the ground with his last breath escaping his mouth as a pathetic gurgle sound.
When the archivist had fallen everyone remained silent, not to mourn his death but to give the time to Minka. She deserves some time to have it for herself to say whatever she wants to his father. She was able to fulfill her wish to end his life: "Dad..." She whispers in utter sorrow while looking down at him in sadness and pity: "You are the worst father ever. But I hope you find mom in the afterlife. You need to apologize to her for all the damage you've done in her name." Then Minka collapses on the ground and sobs uncontrollably.
"It's over..." Knight suddenly felt light on her heart and almost passed out, but Nova managed to catch her and bring back to her senses: "Thank you...I guess you are Nova?"
Nova nods: "Thank you for giving us the notebook, without your help, we could not figure out how to break the spell."
"Don't mention it, I am also trying to save myself. It's a shame that I couldn't kill the archivist myself." Knight chuckles: "You are not so different from your sister."
"Can't tell if you are being serious or just like see me frown." Nova let out a smile as well. A rare wholehearted one.
Knight then took out a pack of cigarettes: "You want one?"
"It kills you."
"Everything kills you."
Nova then took a cig and lit up with Knight. After they have had enough puffing of the smoke in their lungs. They were able to feel more relaxed. For now, there is no further danger since the archivist has been killed: "What are you going to do now?" Nova asks.
"Me? Dunno, probably go to a world where I can start over."
"I can get you anywhere."
"Na, i learned a few things these days." Knight then throws the cig on the ground and steps on it: "Nova Terra... May we meet again." A portal appeared behind Knight, and she stepped in. Knight was about to disappear but turned around for a last look at Nova and smiled contently as she disappeared. Nova was left alone within the ruin.
"Sis!" Monika hugs Nova from behind: "I miss you so much..."
"It's okay, everything will be alright," Nova said reassuringly while rubbing her little sister's head: "You feeling better."
"Wounds still hurt, but I'll be alright." Monika talks as if she wasn't almost beaten till death. She didn't even realize how close it came to her life. She felt ashamed for not realizing this until it almost happened: "I am doing that again..."
"Yeah you're always so selfish." Nova then gives the sword that can cut through realities to Monika: "Take this, sword is not my style."
Monika took the sword, it is lighter than she expected: "What now?"
"We go home. merge the timeline and put an end to everything."
