"Haaa… Haaaaa….. Firebolt!"

As the boy was running, he raised his arm at the flower monsters in front of him. The moment those words left his lips, a burst of flame and lightning appeared and scorched the monsters in his path, Not even watching the death cry of the monsters, he immediately ran off to his destination.

What is this terrible feeling?

Running down the artificial maze, that was the only thought the boy had as he continued to head to the lower floors. He had taken over for the reserve forces of Loki Familia so they could protect the injured members of Demeter Familia. But while he was fighting those monsters, a strange wind had passed by him. The wind was black-colored and had brought chills down his spine just looking at it. Even the flower monsters he was fighting had trembled, almost if they were more afraid of the black wind over the boy.

Feeling something utterly wrong, he headed down to the location where the wind had come from. The closer he got, the stronger the wind became. And soon he had finally arrived. The room where the wind was coming from.

After a moment's hesitation, he entered the room to find a scene of utter chaos. Widening his eyes, he saw that the room was half destroyed with the adamantine wall in pieces.

A red-haired woman with creature-like armor laughed hysterically as she swung her sword down at a black typhoon that was raging around frantically.

No.

He stopped breathing.

He couldn't believe his eyes.

That wasn't a black typhoon or even a force of nature. That was…

Is that…Miss Ais?!

Yes, what he saw was a golden-haired girl wrapped in black wind, howling right back at the red-haired woman as she swung her rapier to cut her down. Her eyes were completely different from the Ais he knew. They were completely dyed in black flames. She wasn't like this even when she had tried to cut Wiene down at Daedulus Street. But no matter how much he didn't want to believe it, the reality was in front of his eyes.

Neither of them seemed to have noticed the boy's arrival and continued swinging their blades. The woman seemed to only laugh harder each time Ais increased the power of her wind and speed. Ais growled and retaliated with more force every time she received a counterblow.

"Let out more, Aria! Your hatred isn't this weak, right?!"

"HAAAAA!"

This wasn't even a fight between two people anymore. It was a fight between two monsters. who aimed to devour each other.

No!

He had to stop her.

The way she was now whether she won or lost, the Ais he knew might be lost forever if he let this continue. Her black flame would take her over completely.

The thought of the smile of the girl he loved being lost forever was something he never wanted to live through. He wanted her to survive and smile with him after the battle no matter what!

"Miss Ais! Please wake up!"

But his voice could not reach them among the storm and clash of blades. Getting closer to her would be difficult with the wind actively pushing him away but he had no choice. In order to save her, he would have to reach her with his own hands.

"Miss Ais, I'm coming over to you. Please wait for me!"

The sword of wind and the crimson blade clashed. As each second ticked by, she slashed faster, more sharply, more instantaneously, more overwhelmingly.

It's burning—

No matter how often Revis was painted in blood, she just laughed and kept rising to the challenge. The black wind trembled under a powerful blow. There was a sizzling sound as if the wind was weakened, and then in the next instant, it swirled and regained its strength.

It's hot–-

That sound was the sound of her life burning away. The sound of the black flames consuming her life.

But that's fine—There is no going back. I can't turn back anymore. I can't remember those memories. I'll defeat this monster and go beyond this-

She entrusted all of herself to the black flames that had taken up residence in her. She embraced the hellfire that would turn her body and soul into ash, heading for what lay beyond the darkness.

But just before she could.

"Firebolt!"

A voice she recognized roared out. Was it her imagination? Her last thoughts of his voice before she burnt away? She did want to see him one last time and see that beautiful smile on his face. But at the same time she wished he wasn't here either. She never wanted him to ever see how ugly she really was. But did these lingering thoughts matter? After all, there was no way that boy could be-

"Miss Ais!"

Her eyes widened.

This time she heard his voice much more clearly. Turning around she saw the person

In her mind appear right behind her in reality. His left hand was stretched out, firing a burst of flames at the creature.

"This is-!"

Unable to respond against the quick, blazing flames, the creature was sent flying across the room. But Bell paid no attention to his successful sneak attack and instead grabbed Ais's arm, and looked Ais directly in her eyes.

!

The pure determination reflected in his eyes was enough to make the black flames in her heart waver.

"Miss Ais! Please wake up! Don't let that power take you over! Please return to your usual self! Even if you rely on that power, you won't be happy in the end!"

"B-but, I have to…defeat her! So I can protect everyone! Even if…I have to rely on this disgusting flame to beat her!"

But even with his pleading, her black flames inside her still burned. Without this power she couldn't beat Revis. If she couldn't protect everyone, by fighting her here, why had she bothered getting stronger all this time?

Just as she was about to brush him off, he held her arm tighter as if to reject her from cutting him off.

"I don't want this."

"Bell?"

"I don't want this! Whether it's me or your Familia, no one wants to see you kill your heart for this! If you think you can't beat her alone without your flame, then rely on me! I'll do anything to save you! So, please ask me for help if you're hurting inside!"

"T-that's is…?!"

Rely on Bell?

Ask Bell to save her?

Accept the hand holding her?

"You'll…help me?"

"Yeah. Always."

"...!"

The black flame's rage slowly began to die down as the warm feeling in his hand slowly spread to her cold, frozen heart. The black wind slowly reverted into a pure, white wind as if to signify the girl's return from the darkness.

Bell let out a smile of relief. And just as Ais had softly accepted his hand, a bone-chilling voice emerged.

"You've got to be joking, Aria."

"!"

"You're…!"

Both Ais and Bell looked up at shock, to see the creature, who's light burns had already healed due to her unnatural regeneration. Her eyes were empty and dark compared to her passion from before, And yet it felt like she had become far more dangerous than before.

Not even a moment later, she was right in front of the two.

"Gngh!"

Ais lifted her sword just in time to meet Revis's blade. But without the power of her black wind, the impact was much stronger and her rapier, Desperate, was blown away from her hands.

"My rapier…!"

"Where are you looking?"

Not wasting the opening, Revis kicked the girl directly at the stomach, sending her flying all the way to the far corner of the room.

"Ais! You!"

Fury had now taken over the boy as he drew his twin knives and swung right at the creature. But…

"Hmph, is this all?"

"?!"

Both knives were blocked by an impossible speed for the boy to keep track off. Despite swinging both knives in different directions, the creature blocked them both. Staring at the boy in front of her, a certain idea had come to mind. Her lips curved into a dark smile.

"Thanks to you, Aria isn't in the mood anymore. And that isn't good for me. You were the one to bring her back so if I kill you, Aria is sure to break down, right?"

"Wha-?!"

Before the boy could form any words, she lifted her sword once more, she swung harder than before, causing the boy to barely dodge the next strike.

This is bad! A head-on fight will break my knives in two!

Abandoning the close combat fight, he focused on nothing but dodging her strikes. Of course he did not dodge them perfectly due to the difference of their power, but he made sure to avoid any fatal wounds. Revis must have noticed this as well, as she clicked her tongue.

"Is running away is your only specialty, you coward?"

But this stalemate would not last forever. Each cut she left on his body had caused more blood to drip out, lowering his stamina and energy even further.

Leaving the room and opening the distance between us would be the best but…

He looked at Ais who was still on the ground nearby.

If he chose to leave the room, there was no guarantee Revis wouldn't ignore him and go straight to Ais. He had to attract as much of her attention to him while he was close by.

Just as he took a brief glance at Ais out of the corner of his eye, his eyes widened.

But soon his eyes narrowed, as he understood what he had to do, although he wasn't very happy about it.

Taking it a deep breath in, he let out all the remaining power in his body in one roar.

"HAAAAAAAAH!"

Using his famed Rabbit Rush, for the first time Bell went on the full offensive against Revis not letting a single chance for her counterattack to come and kill him.

"What? You suddenly got all excited?"

Revis didn't seem at all fazed by this outburst of speed and powered and calmly deflected each strike. After all this was using the boy's full power. He would run out of energy quickly at this rate, reasoned the creature.

And after the first hundred strikes, just as he expected, a lag began to appear between strikes. And she did not miss that.

"There!"

Knocking the Hestia Knife away, the boy only had one weapon left in his hand. That small white knife alone wouldn't be enough for the boy to defeat her.

"Are you done with the useless struggling, kid? Then, time to die."

"Not yet!"

At the last moment, Bell threw his last weapon, the white knife Hakugen right at the creature's face. But the throw was weak, and the creature simply dodged the knife by moving her head and letting it go past her.

"What a pathetic attempt for an attack. It's over, kid."

"Gaaa-!"

Grabbing his neck tightly, she readied her sword right at his neck, prepared to deal the finishing blow.

Soon, Aria would wake up again and they would finally get to continue killing each other like before.

There would be nothing to stop her any-

CRACK.

A noise interrupted her thoughts, just as her sword was about to reach the boy's neck.

Furthermore… something felt wrong around her chest.

Looking down slowly, there was the edge of a white knife that had pierced right through her heart- no to be more precise, her magic stone.

"This is….?!"

"I win."

And when she turned. behind her was the girl that she had promised to crush and defeat. The voice of Aria who should have been knocked out at the wall.

Ais looked at Revis with the same stare she had given Revis when she had first defeated her. Despite attaining victory, she just looked calm and collected despite the frenzy of their battle.

No, maybe it was slightly different. It was small but a smile seemed to be on her lips. But not to Revis who she had just stabbed, but to the boy she had grabbed.

"No…it was our win. Isn't that right, Bell?"

"Miss Ais…"

As the two spoke, it slowly dawned on Revis. The knife he threw at the last moment was never meant to be an attack for her. It was simply a way to give Ais a weapon without Revis noticing. Had she tried to grab the Desperate that was blown away, it would have taken a longer time to catch Revis off guard and she could have possibility found out with extra time.

That was why the boy had tried to go on the offense despite knowing he was vastly inferior to her. It was all to give Ais the chance to settle everything.

"You….YOU!"

Turning her murderous eyes on the boy who had played her, but it was too late as her arm crumbled to dust.

"No, not here! Not when I finally found it after so long! I refuse to die he-"

But she could not finish the remainder of that sentence as she crumbled to dust right before the two.

"...is it over?"

"...Yeah."

Seeing the powerful enemy finally defeated, Bell and Ais could finally let out a sigh of relief. But soon after, Bell lowered his head.

"...Bell?"

"I'm so sorry! I promised I would help you, yet I let you handle the most dangerous part! I wasn't strong enough-"

He couldn't finish his sentence though, because a soft embrace covered his body and held him.

It took him a few seconds to realize it was Ais embracing him and holding him tightly as if to never let go. He could detect a faint trembling in her arms as she spoke.

"...I'm sorry too. I didn't want to risk you into such danger fighting her alone. I should've woken up faster and came to help you."

"No, there was nothing you could've done!"

"...Then isn't it the same for you, Bell?"

"No, that's well-"

"...it is right?"

"...Yes."

Seeing the meek look on Bell's face, Ais began to laugh as if she couldn't help herself anymore.

"Miss Ais?!"

Despite Bell calling out to her, she continued to laugh for a few more moments as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Once she stopped laughing, she smiled at him.

Not one of her usual faint, small smiles. But a bright, cheerful smile of a normal girl.

Really… That smile is unfair, Miss Ais.

Seeing that smile really made him realize once again, he was completely in love with her.

"...Thank you, Bell. You saved me."

"T-T-that's w-well, you know! Miss Ais you've saved me so many times so I wanted to return the favor!"

"Hehe…Then next time if I need you to save me like now…Will you come? No matter what?"

To those words and smile, he would only have one answer for her, no matter how many years passed.

"Yes! No matter what, if you need me, I'll come running to you Miss Ais! Because you're my…"

Bell caught himself before finishing his words. He might've got carried away but he couldn't afford to confess his feelings for her here. He wanted to do that once he was strong enough to truly protect her on his own.

"You're my… what?"

Bell's face flushed red, as she closed in, curious to hear the last words. Just before she could push him into answering, a loud earthquake shook the artificial maze. Almost as if it was welcoming the birth of a new monster.

"That was…"

"Did something happen in Finn and the other's fights?"

"We should go, Miss Ais! Let's help everyone else."

"...Yes. Let's go."

Ais nodded and then looked at him with a slightly red face.

"We're fighting together…right?"

Bell blinked for a moment before smiling widely.

"Yeah! Let's go! Together!"

As the two smiled at each other, they headed towards the center of the maze, to fight the enemies of the dark maze. But they had nothing to fear this time. Because this time, they would be together through this fight and go to the future together.