Last chapter guys, don't forget to leave a review and read the A/N at the end :D
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Chapter 36: Ken's POV
"Ken, can you hear me?" I hear Shinou's voice inside of my head. Slowly opening my eyes, strongly shut after the explosion, if that's what it was anyway, I try to recognize my surroundings. I'm lying on the floor, a few feet back from where I was standing just a second ago, before whatever it was, blew up. My back hurts a little, but I'm not injured, I think.
"Where are you?" I ask back after realizing Shinou isn't in the room anymore and trying to stand up.
"I used too much power defending us from the explosion. I can't take a physical form for the moment." Well, that was to be expected after tonight.
I grab my glasses from the spot on the floor on which they landed, a few steps to the right, and, thank god, they're unharmed. Now, with a much clearer view, I can actually tell the amount of damage made, most of all, to the room's furniture. This room is going to need some serious reparations before the next ten nobles meeting.
I make my way through the debris that used to be the great table and find what I had been looking for since I regained consciousness.
"Shibuya!" I practically scream seeing his body on the ground, right next to Wolfram's, both unconscious and facing each other. Receiving no response I rush over to their side and try to kneel next to Shibuya, only to find a magic shield that pushes me back.
Regaining my balance I look around and see no trace of the witch.
"They are alive" Shinou says, with an unsure voice, something very uncharacteristic for him, even when he knows only I can hear him. I take a deep breath and take a seat on what, ironically, used to be chair, now only a square-ish piece of wood. I rest my elbow in my knee and my chin in my hand. The dim light of the only candle still lit on the wall makes my glasses gleam hiding my eyes.
Once more, sadly, all I can do is sit back and watch.
"Don't be discouraged my Sage, we can't say much but at least we can be sure the Mirage witch is gone. Whatever is blocking us comes from another source." By we, I assume he's talking about him and Ulrike, who must have been watching this entire show with her divination sphere all along.
Although that is, in fact, good news at first glance, I'm really not sure if we want Mirage gone right now. There are only two possible options, considering her surprise at the time of the explosion, which seemed genuine to me, and I hardly make mistakes with this kinds of things. That means she didn't caused it, and didn't saw it coming either.
So she either escaped, or died.
If she escaped, she might come back at any second and our royal couple isn't exactly prepared to greet her right now.
And if she died... there's the possibility that we might never be able to reverse her curse...
In short, if they don't wake up soon, we're screwed either way.
Suddenly I hear a loud thump coming from the door. It doesn't make sense, we protected this room with a majutsu barrier, but Mirage could come in if she wanted since she should be immune to that kind of protection, that can only mean...
"They are going to break the seal"
Shinou's warning proves to be pointless since the doors burst open before he finishes speaking. I slowly look up to met their horrified expressions.
No one but Conrad Weller and Gwendal von Voltaire stand at the other side of the open door, with unsheathed swords, and between me and them lie the bodies of their Maou and of their brother.
Behind them, near the opposite wall of the hallway is Lord von Christ, apparently tired from using his marioku to break our seal. Even with our minds elsewhere, it is a great accomplishment to break a seal made by Shinou and the Daikenja. He's sweating quite a bit and seems to be having some trouble keeping his balance.
However, even with his weakened state, his gaze is strongly fixated in me, like the ones of the two in front of him. To say that their eyes scream bloody murder, would be an understatement at this point.
Lord Weller is the first one to react and he rushes over to Shibuya's side, only to be rejected by the shield, just like I was.
"What is the meaning of this!" Lord von Voltaire demands an answer, from me, of course. Meanwhile Lord von Christ manages to get himself to the door frame and he uses it for support.
"They are alive" I say calmly as I stand up and come as close as I can to the unconscious couple without being pushed back. I know my answer is not what they are looking for, and it's not very reassuring either, but all I can do right now is state the facts that I'm aware of.
"What happened?" Lord Weller asks with a tone much calmer than his brother's, but I can tell he's still pondering about disemboweling me where I stand. This sure brings back some memories from the forbidden boxes ordeal.
"Right now is not the time for explanations Lord Weller, I'm sorry" I might not sound really sorry, but I am. Somehow I think we could have prevented this if we had acted sooner, although logically I know that's not true.
The three of them exchange a couple of worried looks. Lord von Christ seems to be slowly recovering his strengths, but he remains safely leaning against the door frame. I can imagine what they're thinking. This scene makes absolutely no sense to them.
"All I can say" I continue " is that they are alive and all we can do is wait" I turn around and go back to the position I was before the door opened, to the astonishment of the three.
I know it may seem as if I didn't care at all for what is happening, even though I'm actually worried for Shibuya's and Wolfram's safety. I'm not trying to be cryptic or secretive either, this is just how I react in front of this sort of situation. You could say that calm and composure are the biggest strengths of a strategist, but sadly all a strategist can do, once the pieces of the game are in movement, is wait and watch.
"But Geika, wh...!" Lord von Voltaire stops short noticing, along with the rest of us, a weak light coming from the space between Shibuya and Wolfram, just in the middle, around their waists level. It's really weak but since most of the candles in the room blew along with the rest of the furniture, it's easy to see.
The discussion comes to a pause, accompanied by everyone's desire to murder me apparently, as we all walk as close as possible to the two bodies on the floor.
The light becomes brighter and brighter and it starts to slowly take form in a way only me and Lord Weller would recognize.
"A... soul?" he asks voicing my thoughts exactly. Lord von Voltaire and von Christ turn pale at the thought of the small shining sphere being the soul of either Wolfram or Shibuya. The thought crossed my mind too, probably Wolfram's soul, considering what I know and they don't. But then I notice the small white sphere has some sort of purple halo around it.
I take half a step back in disbelief earning the looks of all the awake people in the room.
"It can't be... " I whisper to myself and notice Shibuya shifting a little from his original position.
"Shibuya!"
"Heika!"
"Yuuri!"
We all scream at the same time, running in his direction, forgetting about the shield that this time, doesn't stop us. Lord Weller is the first to reach him and he holds Shibuya in a sitting position as he slowly regains consciousness.
"Wh..." Shibuya mumbles blinking heavily, like he just woke up from a very pleasant dream. I can't help but smile at this childish gesture. Shibuya will always be Shibuya uh? No matter the situation or what might fall upon him. That reassures me a little, seeing Wolfram shows no sign of waking up and the small sphere we saw before still floats beside him.
"She's gone, Shibuya" I say when he looks at me with renewed concern once fully awake. "As for Lord von Bielefeld..." I trail off looking at the body still lifeless on the floor.
Shibuya quickly assures the worried Lord Weller that he's fine and rushes over to Wolfram's side, holding him up in a way very much alike how he was being held just a moment ago.
"Wolf, come on, wake up" he says carefully straightening up Wolfram's hair. "I told you, I won't let you leave me..." he says, his voice cracking in the last few words.
This is a very painful scene to watch, for me as well as for the others. The elder brothers look down and put away their swords while Lord von Christ, who's not able to stand properly yet, looks away, probably unable to take the sight.
Then, something we weren't really expecting happens. Shibuya, who's now crying silently, kisses Wolfram. A real, long kiss. None of us has time to react when Wolfram slowly opens his eyes.
Sighs of relief and heard all across the room, including me, realizing I was holding my breath since I have no idea when.
But the joy doesn't last long, not for me and Shibuya at least. We know this could very well not be Wolfram. I notice Lord von Voltaire and Weller are about to approach the couple and stop them with a hand gesture. They look at me doubtingly but I look away from them and to the blond.
"Wolf... tell me you are Wolf..." Shibuya says hesitantly to the half awake man in his arms. I hold my breath once again, everyone else clueless as to what that question means.
"Of course it's me, wimp" Oh thank God, it's him! I can see Shibuya's face lighting up in pure glee as he holds Wolfram to him like there was no tomorrow and kisses him once again.
Lord von Voltaire's relieved expression starts to turn into a frown as his obvious brother complex reacts to the scene, Lord von Christ cries out of his majesty with restrained energy, thanks to his weakened body, and thank god, while Lord Weller limits himself to smile.
As for me, I just breathe, for the first time in what seems like a much longer time that it actually was, I breathe calmly once more. We still have a few things to worry about, but for now, I breathe.
"Wait" Wolfram says, bringing all of our reactions to a halt. He stands up, releasing himself from Shibuya's arms and carefully picks the shining sphere we all had momentarily forgotten, with both of his hands. Then he walks in my direction, stopping right in front of me. For a moment the world is completely silent and our eyes meet.
And just like that, I know exactly what he wants.
That soul belongs to Mirage's son, there's no doubt about it anymore, and in this brief hour or so, it became a perfect sphere. How he must have suffered is beyond what I wish to even imagine, and Wolfram witnessed all from the inside... it's only logical that a bond would form between two souls sharing as much as they did, so it's only logical that Wolfram wants to allow this soul to continue living somehow.
"Lord von Bielebed, you do know that what you wish to do requires true desire on your part, and that you will never be able to undo it?" I ask, just so my conscience is at peace, I can see in his eyes he will not take it back.
"Yes" he answers, plainly and without a hint of hesitation.
"Very well then"
I place myself behind Wolfram and put my hands below his. This hug-like position earns me a not so pleased look from both Lord von Voltaire and Shibuya, but right now I can't pause to tease them with a wink or something like that. I need to concentrate, I've never done this to another person besides myself.
I concentrate my marioku just like I would if it were me who wanted to absorb the soul and I feel Wolfram imitating me, I slowly push his hands in the direction of his chest and the soul willingly enters his body.
I take a step back and he turns to face me.
"Thank you" he says with a gentle yet sad smile and walks away to be received by Shibuya's open arms.
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Hi everybody, I know I said this is the last chapter of this story, and it is, but I'm also working on an epilogue, so keep an eye on the updates ;)
PS: All this Lord von whatever thing was very tiresome to write, but since it's Ken's POV it had to be like that, I hope it wasn't annoying to read.
