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Finn dropped into the street, watching Ethan and Ryu in silence for a moment before stepping forward, only for a Light Blade to stab into the ground at his feet.

"Don't come any closer," Ethan snarled.

"Why are you defending that monster?" Finn asked.

"She's different from the monsters you've fought up until now," Ethan said. "She's a Xenos, a monster with intelligence, with a soul. She's not normally violent or dangerous."

Finn looked up at Wiene.

"Right now, she's been sent into a berserk frenzy because Dix Perdix ripped the Vouivre tear from her head," Ryu explained. "He was smuggling other Xenos out of the dungeon to sell them, after torturing them, so when we went to stop him, and began to win the fight, he sent Wiene," she gestured at Wiene, "into a rage in order to escape."

"Do you remember the young Vouivre who looked like a little girl we defended before?" Ethan asked, Finn nodding. "This is what happened to her once her stone was removed. If we put it back, she should come back to her senses."

Finn frowned, considering for a long moment. "And then what?"

"And then no one will lay a hand on her," Ethan said warningly. "She's our family, now, and I won't let you harm her."

"So we should just allow her to, what, live on the surface?" Finn asked.

"Do you know how she was exposed before?" Ethan asked. "She saved a small child from being crushed by a falling crate. She saved a human's life, and for it, the entire city tried to kill her."

Finn stared up at her in silence for a moment. "If you put the stone back and she doesn't regain her senses, if she remains violent, what will you do?"

Before either could answer, Wiene shrieked in pain as she finally ripped the spear out of her shoulder, hurling it at Finn as she fled, only for the spear to deflect off of Ethan's sword. Ethan and Ryu sprinted after Wiene as she fled into the city, and Finn retrieved his spear as some of the other Xenos appeared from the Xnossos entrance.

"What do we do, Finn?" Gareth asked as the rest of the group landed around him.

"Capture the monsters alive," Finn ordered. "And leave the Vouivre to them."

The others all nodded, but as Bete turned to fight, Finn caught his arm.

"Bete, find Dix Perdix," Finn said. "He should be nearby. Once you catch him, take him to Ethan. He'll likely want to deal with him personally. Ais, I want you to wait with me and Riveria for now."

Beth and Ais both nodded and Beth left, heading for the Knossos entrance to start his search.

Ethan sent a wave of Light Blades into the ground to scatter the adventurers waiting to ambush Wiene, then shot after her as they'd passed. He leapt into the air to try and catch her around the torso, but she suddenly turned, crashing into a building before fleeing again.

"Wiene!" Ethan shouted as he landed on the building and took off again. "Stop!"

He and Ryu began to close in again, but were delayed as they were forced to fend off several more adventurers. finally, they managed to catch up with her just as they passed into an arena, only for the two dozen mages around them to all fire a Lightning spell at the same time. Ethan hurled his sword into the air, the spells arcing up into it, only for Ethan's blood to run cold as a blood red blade suddenly burst from Wiene's back in a spray of blood and bits of magic crystal.

"Wiene!" Ethan and Ryu both shrieked.

"I did it!" Gran shouted from a tower ahead of them. "I killed it, Dix! I killed the monster!"

"LIGHTNING SPREE! ! !" Ethan roared, his skin pitch black from his eyes to the edges of his face and thick streams of black fluid running down his cheeks.

A lightning bolt as wide as his body was tall flashed across the distance and slammed into the center of Gran's chest, exploding into a fireball that obliterated the top half of the tower and shattered the ground below Ethan, Ryu, and Wiene. As they fell, Ethan caught Wiene's torso, turning so that he'd land first, then set her down gently, ripping the blade out of her chest and pressing the Vouivre Tear back into place. The crimson light slowly faded from Wiene's eyes, and she looked up at him in recognition and silence for a few moments, even as her body began to slowly dissolve.

"E...than," Wiene said, voice trembling and tears running down her face as she watched him and Ryu struggle to keep from sobbing. "Ryu."

"We're here," Ryu said, voice fractured and weak. "We came to save you."

"Everything's going to be okay now," Ethan said, voice shaking even more than Ryu's. "We're right here."

"I had...a terrible dream," Wiene said as her tail began to dissolve fully, along with her wings and left hand. "No one came to save me. But...this time...someone did come. I was...so happy...with my family." The skin over her Magic Crystal dissolved, and her remaining arm followed after it. "Ethan...Ryu...I love you."

"We love you, too," Ryu said. "Always."

Wiene smiled, then finally exploded into a cloud of darkness as her Magic Crystal shattered, leaving nothing but her Vouivre Tear behind. Ethan and Ryu broke instantly, Ethan clutching the stone to his chest as he folded forward, pressing his forehead to the ground as his body shook with sobs, Ryu holding him tightly as she sobbed as well. Ethan pressed his head tighter to the ground. This was his fault. He was supposed to be the Guardian. He was supposed to be able to protect the things he held dear, the people he loved. And yet, he had been powerless to protect one of the two people he loved most in the world. He was too weak. Too slow. Nothing had changed. He still wasn't strong enough. He was still worthless.

"This...wasn't your...fault " Ryu forced out, still sobbing. "There was...nothing you...could have done."

"That's not true!" Ethan sobbed. "If I had been faster...I could have saved her! If I had...killed Gran...she'd be alive!"

Ryu didn't respond, simply holding him tighter. However, after a moment, she pulled back suddenly. Ethan looked around, seeing Fels walking toward them, chanting, though he didn't register a thing he was saying. All he knew was that Wiene's Vouivre Tear was suddenly shining with a blue-green light, and there were suddenly a dozen or so spheres of the same light floating around them. Then, a green spell circle formed around them before a shaft of blinding green light suddenly exploded up from it, shining high into the air.

Suddenly, as he finished his chant, the light dispersed all at once before a spiraling, white green column of energy shot down from the sky, dispersing the clouds overhead on the way. Ethan glanced up, seeing the several layers of broken ground they'd fallen through filled with Xenos, and seeing Ray and Gros flying around overhead. The light from Wiene's Vouivre Tear began to form a sphere of sphere of light around Ethan and Ryu. Then, the spiraling energy ended and the light faded, leaving Wiene laying in Ethan's arms, exactly as she had been before Dix had ripped out her Vouivre Tear.

Ethan and Ryu stared at her in shock, neither daring to hope, but after a few seconds, she took a breath and opened her eyes. Both broke down instantly, hugging her tightly, Wiene closing her eyes and tilting her head against theirs as her arms wrapping around her weakly.

"This is the first time...I have succeeded...in eight hundred years," Fels said. "I cursed this magic for its uselessness, but...there was a purpose after all."

"Thank you, Fels!" Ethan choked out. "Thank you!"

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