Akane eventually agreed to help Kazuya find the remains of the shooting star. After all, Kazuya was the king, and it was her duty to respect his wishes.
The couple left the balcony and approached the courtyard within the castle grounds. It wasn't long before they noticed a small, smoldering ashtray of celestial debris cooling down underneath a tree. Akane approached this sight beside her ruler with an increased nervousness growing inside of her, but Kazuya peered at the remains with a genuine wonder and awe.
In the center of the small crater was a slowly disintegrating black diamond that appeared to be polished and reflected the moon's light. Kazuya continued to stare at the object with a curious expression frozen on his face for some time, and Akane tried to grab his attention with a gentle tug to his arm.
"Um, Kazu? Don't you think we should get going?"
The king seemed oblivious to his protector's words and only continued to stare at the glowing black meteorite.
"Kazu? Please?"
Akane gave Kazuya's arm a stronger tug.
"Are you okay, Kazu?"
Kazuya's expression still remained the same. Akane was quickly overcome with desperation.
"Hey, Kazu! Come on!"
Just as the last pieces of the shining black rock disappeared into orange embers, Akane's words broke Kazuya's concentration. The young king shook his head a few times as if to shake away some invisible cobwebs before finally breaking his silence.
"It was really pretty, wasn't it, Akane? Too bad it melted. We could have kept it as an heirloom."
Akane smiled in relief as she nodded. Kazuya returned his lover's expression before speaking again.
"Of course, I still have you. I don't really need anything else."
The couple shared a lengthy kiss, much to Akane's delight. When the kiss ended, Kazuya placed his hand over Akane's and spoke.
"You're right. It's getting late. Let's go back."
Akane and Kazuya returned to the castle interior, where they quickly parted ways to head for their separate bedrooms. Akane briefly struggled to fall asleep that night as she continued to be plagued by a small amount of lingering fear, but she eventually blamed her nerves on the matter and closed her eyes with her peace of mind mostly restored.
The next morning, Akane dressed in her Meister uniform and approached the king's quarters to escort him to the throne room as she did every day. She was quickly taken by shock when she opened the door and noticed Kazuya was sitting up in his bed still in his sleeping clothes. He had been observing his room with a strange bewilderment, and he quickly turned his head to Akane and shot a dark glare at her when he heard the door open. As the embarrassed Otome was taken aback, Kazuya finally turned to a large mirror adjacent to his bed and gazed into his reflection before slowly shaking his head. He muttered a few sarcastic words in an unusual tone under his breath so Akane wouldn't hear.
"Great, the Hime Star reincarnated me as this twerp. I'll be dead by sundown."
While Kazuya grumbled in disappointment, Akane's eyes fluttered wide open and she quickly began exiting the room.
"Ah, Kazu, I'm sorry! If I knew you had slept in late, I wouldn't have barged in!"
Kazuya's cold glare soon turned to a cheerful smile when he finished analyzing his surroundings. In reality, an ancient alien consciousness had entered his mind while he was gazing at the black meteor debris the previous night. This new entity had awakened and fully taken control of Kazuya's body that morning, and now he had a charade to put on if he wanted to make his long journey worthwhile. He raised his voice and began speaking much closer to Kazuya's usual friendly tone.
"It's fine, Akane. I'm the one who should be apologizing for scaring you."
As Akane turned around in place and glanced back toward the yawning king with a reassured smile, Kazuya continued to speak.
"Come here, Akane."
The boy playfully motioned for Akane to sit on the side of the bed as he shifted his legs under the covers to make room for her. Akane nodded and peacefully walked across the carpeted royal chamber before situating herself beside Kazuya's knees. After his Meister was seated, Kazuya lifted his hand to grasp her chin and slowly turn her face to his. The moment her light brown eyes made contact with his, Akane gently fell into a trance-like state that echoed her king's strange actions during the previous night. As she continued to gaze affectionately into his eyes, Kazuya began issuing her orders for the day.
"Akane, I want you to find the most powerful Otome on Earl. Don't harm her, though. Just bring her here so I can persuade her to..."
Kazuya's words trailed off when something suddenly occurred to him. Akane could hear her king think to himself aloud, but lacked the willpower to react to his bizarre words.
"Wait. If I can take physical form at all, that must mean... HER reincarnation was killed."
Kazuya continued to think to himself as the alien entity controlling him began accessing his more recent thoughts and memories. A sudden expression of shock appeared on his face when he recalled the events surrounding the sudden death of Queen Mashiro.
"Amazing..."
The king continued to look into his Meister's eyes with a new curiosity.
"I've never even payed attention to Harimau users. They always turn out to be the runt of the litter."
Kazuya's expression turned to a sinister smirk.
"She may not be the strongest on her own, but to think that level of dedication has been right in front of me this entire time..."
As Akane remained in her trance, her lingering feelings of fear from the previous night slowly faded away. She could see that Kazuya was not himself based on the way he was speaking, yet some silent instinct was continuously assuring her that this was indeed the same young man she had first met when she was a Coral many years ago. Through a strange feeling of familiarity, Akane understood what had overcome Kazuya and why this was happening, but at the same time the person speaking was still the young ruler she deeply loved. It was as if these strange changes in personality were a natural part of Kazuya.
When Kazuya was confident his power had seduced the Otome seated next to him, he slowly pulled her into a deep kiss. Akane was quick to cheerfully return the gesture, and she closed her eyes and sighed as her lover embraced her. After the two finally parted, Kazuya spoke to himself again while Akane returned to her quiet trance.
"Hmm. She tastes much sweeter than any of the previous brides. I suppose I could get used to it if she doesn't reject me like the others, though..."
As the pondering king continued to look into his protector's twinkling eyes, he began to feel a slight tinge of sympathy for the girl. Akane's caring glance was starting to influence his judgment in almost the same fashion he had used his own power to subdue her. The ancient spirit that had assimilated Kazuya's consciousness now felt that it would be too cruel to reduce Akane to an expendable tool and rob her of her beloved like he had done to all of her previous incarnations ages ago. After a few more moments of inner thought, Kazuya made his final decision and a friendly smile crossed his lips. He began gently brushing his fingers through Akane's short brown hair as he spoke in a dark voice.
"Akane, I want you to kill the Columns. I want us to be the only ones to lead the world into the new era. I'll supply you with the forces to do this, of course, but I entrust everything to you."
Akane bowed her head obediently. She realized this would make Kazuya the sole ruler of the world once the war ended, and she couldn't be happier for her cherished king.
"As you wish, Obsidian Lor-..."
Kazuya quickly raised an extended index finger to her lips and interrupted her in a gentle tone.
"There's no need to be so formal, Akane. I don't expect you to pretend we're not already more intimate than that."
Akane nodded playfully and rested her head on Kazuya's shoulder.
"Okay, Kazu."
Kazuya grinned with satisfaction and continued speaking in his deeper voice.
"Speaking of intimacy, we should make our marriage official."
Akane blinked a few times in uncertainty, but quickly realized what lewd act Kazuya was referring to in this context. A deep blush formed on her cheeks as she inched her seated position away from her master's advances. Her voice conveyed embarrassment while she spoke in a hushed tone to prevent drawing attention to Castle Windbloom's royal chambers.
"Ka-... Kazu! You know I can't do that right now! We're still at war, and I still need my powers to protect you!"
Kazuya only chuckled softly as he reached around Akane's waist and delicately drew the shy girl back toward him. He replied to Akane's objections with no concern in his voice.
"Yes, about those silly limits you humans put on the technology I left you..."
Kazuya's hand slowly traced down the back of Akane's white dress and stopped a little below her left shoulder blade. Akane suddenly winced as she felt a short stinging sensation on her back, and she cautiously looked over her shoulder to assess the damage Kazuya had done. There were no marks on her uniform, but, the next time she undressed and examined her bare back, she would be able to see a small red tattoo resembling an inverted "Q" now marking her in the same place Kazuya had caressed her. When Akane looked into the young king's eyes again and her worried expression faded, Kazuya smiled warmly and continued speaking.
"There. We'll be sharing our life force just as we have been, Akane. However, as long as I allow my brand to stay on you, you'll be able to Materialize your equipment regardless of your body's physical state."
Akane's eyes filled with a new delight as she responded softly.
"Thank you, Kazu."
Kazuya gave a warm grin in response and slowly pulled Akane closer into his embrace before speaking tenderly to his mate.
"So, no more interruptions. Let's consummate our marriage."
Akane nodded in agreement. In the next few moments, the couple performed an act that bound Akane's very soul to the entity that had merged with Kazuya's mind.
At King Kazuya's urging, Akane resumed her station beside the Windbloom throne and the couple continued to act just as they had prior to Kazuya's sudden change of heart. They carefully kept their affair secret from the Windbloom court, but they continued to meet alone each evening to discuss Kazuya's plan of attack. Akane quickly discovered that the Pure Heart Malachite Robe continued to function with the king's authorization just as he had promised, and she grew confident in her ability to defeat the Columns when Kazuya demonstrated he could summon a grand army of armored beasts in the same nature as Hari to support her.
After a few more days of planning, the Windbloom king finally gave the order to crush Garderobe. Akane launched from Castle Windbloom in her Robe that morning and led a large group of flying monsters to the military academy's grounds. The Columns answered the attack personally, but quickly found themselves outmatched by Akane's swift attacks combined with the size of her forces. The five young women put up a valiant fight, but ultimately gave up their lives in this battle and left Garderobe without leadership. After Kazuya gently issued new orders to Akane through her GEM's radio receiver, she ruthlessly continued her attack and quickly wiped out the Coral and Pearl students of the academy, as well as any Meisters who were on the Columns' side. As a result of this sudden attack, King Kazuya was now able to claim the countries the Columns had previously conquered as his own.
Similar merciless attacks were soon brought to the remaining free countries of Earl. When the campaign ended, Akane was the world's only active Otome who had not been brutally killed in battle by vastly overwhelming numbers, and this fact became the main reason no one would ever openly challenge Kazuya's now-global dictatorship. The Windbloom king had won the War of the Five Columns and united humanity under a single flag, but he did so by apparently shedding his morality and becoming a bloodthirsty tyrant with a murderous Otome in a way not even the former nobles of Chaldea would have predicted.
With the war over, King Kazuya publicly announced Akane to be his chosen wife and the Queen of Earl. The people of Earl gradually began to thrive in their forced peace.
Epilogue:
King Kazuya awoke one morning to find the queen's place on his bed strangely absent. His spiritual bond to her made him feel slight anxiety as he exited the bedroom, but he was soon relieved when he heard Akane's muffled voice gently humming a lullaby in the room of the royal family's firstborn child. He was then briefly surprised when he realized the notes of Akane's soothing melody belonged to "Ensei," a ritualistic song that had once been shared amongst small circles of shrine maidens before being forgotten long ago. However, Kazuya smiled to himself when he decided Akane must have been influenced by some of her past lives, as her most ancient incarnations had been trained to perform the original song and were all too familiar with hearing it being used as a funerary hymn after the opening event of a certain ritual. The silent king was sincerely moved by Akane finding a much more joyful reason to revive the song.
After approaching the baby's room and quietly opening the door, Kazuya saw that the child was outside of his crib and situated within his mother's arms as he contently suckled from her open imperial gown. Akane was seated in a decorated rocking chair in the corner of the room and slowly pivoted back and forth as she hummed. Hari was sprawled across the carpeted floor a few feet in front of the rocker, emitting a low mechanical purr and guarding his vulnerable master as she nursed her son. The great cat raised his head and looked toward the door in full alert when it was opened, but quickly returned to his relaxed state when he saw the familiar sight of King Kazuya standing in the doorway. While this happened, Akane modestly closed her gown around herself and her infant son as she gazed at the king with a cheerful expression.
"Good morning, Kazu. Suizei was fussing when I woke up, so I decided to give him breakfast a little earlier today."
Kazuya nodded in understanding and stepped forward to pet Hari on the head rewardingly. He spoke in a soft voice as to not disturb his heir.
"Has he quieted down?"
Akane peered down toward her son and offered a motherly smile.
"Mmhmm. He's a lot happier now."
When the baby was finished with his meal, Akane lifted him in her arms so he could perch his chin on her shoulder. He began quietly babbling as he playfully tugged on his mother's bobbing brown hair with his tiny hands.
Kazuya approached the rocking chair and leaned forward so his eyes were level with Akane's. He spoke in his natural voice; making no attempt to silently quell Akane's mind as he had done before.
"Akane, if you don't mind me asking, where did you learn that beautiful song you were just humming? I've never heard any of the musicians in Chaldea or Windbloom use it."
Akane closed her eyes and continued to slowly rock her son as she entered deep thought.
"It's strange, but I heard it in my dreams. Or nightmares, really. I started having them around the time you decided to attack the Columns. They all take place a really long time ago, and I'm always wearing priestess robes and fighting another girl in a shrine. I'd have Hari to support me, and the other priestess would have some other creature helping her. She's usually someone I knew from Garderobe, but I remember fighting President Chrysant at least once."
Akane's eyes opened again and looked into Kazuya's curious eyes lovingly. She continued her narration with a youthful enthusiasm in her voice.
"You're there to watch me fight, too. One time, you were a monk when I was a priestess who worked at the shrine. Then you were a noble's son when I was one of your maids, or you were a traveling soldier when I was your party's healer, or you were a foreign prince when I was a native princess..."
A slight blush formed across the bridge of Akane's nose after she paused.
"...or you were the young landowner who sponsored my mizuage."
Akane shook her head a few times to bring herself back to the present and remind herself that the innocent ears of her child were listening. Her hopeful tone returned as she spoke.
"I can't quite explain it, but, in every dream, I was fighting for some sort of prize. The reward was supposed to be a lot more valuable than just a large sum of money or a piece of land, but the other priestesses and I were warned the punishment for losing was the person we cherished the most being sacrificed."
Despite Akane's grim words, a peaceful smile remained on her face.
"We each had to bring our potential sacrifice to the shrine before the fighting started. A few of the other priestesses would try to fool the temple elders by naming a lesser offer and hiding who they cared for the most, but the elders were able to peer into our thoughts and could always tell who our hearts truly yearned for. We were all told our sacrifices wouldn't be acceptable if the loss wasn't great enough to make us pour our full emotions when we were defeated. It was all very cruel, but it was our responsibility to satisfy the deity we were holding the contest for."
Akane looked down and to the side to hide a sudden fit of shyness.
"The signs of affection I displayed around you were usually pretty obvious, though, and I could never bring myself to deny I was deeply in love with you when it was my turn to be questioned. You'd always be hesitant toward letting me fight after I would be chosen, but the elders made sure we both understood I'd be angering the gods and putting the world in danger if I didn't participate."
Akane's amber orbs looked toward Kazuya again, and he noticed they now gave off an energetic sparkle. It was the same sight that had influenced the king many months ago.
"Besides, no matter who I was, I had already made up my mind to defeat the other girls so I'd have a handsome dowry to give you when we married."
As the queen spoke, her husband smiled in admiration of her words. The Windbloom ruler's old mind was beginning to understand how many opportunities he had missed in the past, and he almost cursed himself for the eons he spent in unnecessary solitude. The sound of Akane's angelic voice combined with the fact his waiting had finally come to end settled his silent anger, however, and he continued to listen in gentle awe. Akane closed her eyes as her thoughts wandered to her own memories.
"In some ways, the dreams felt a lot like when I fought Arika to secure your throne."
When Akane's eyes opened again, they gazed toward Kazuya longingly and began to water. Her voice became weaker as she conveyed her next words.
"But when something happened to me or Hari, you'd suddenly collapse and struggle to breathe. No matter what I did in battle, either I would be wounded and you and I would would die together, or Hari would be killed and you'd die in my arms. Most of my dreams turned out the second way. The rest of the girls would be in the shrine watching, and they would start singing that song to try and comfort me while your body disappeared."
Kazuya listened to Akane's account with a solemn expression on his face as his suspicions were confirmed. He noticed she was shivering slightly, and he reached out to her cheek to carefully wipe away some tears that had fallen from her eyes with the tips of his fingers.
"Akane, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to..."
Akane quickly shook her head in the middle of her king's worried statement. Her tears soon dried as she peered down to her baby and her mind returned to brighter thoughts.
"It's fine, Kazu. Ever since the war ended, the nightmares stopped, and thinking about that song by itself doesn't scare me anymore. Suizei seems to really like it, too, so I'm not going to forget it."
Akane's palm shifted up from the child's shoulders and began massaging the back of his head. Her brown eyes now sported a new look of curiosity.
"Still, what do you think it all means, Kazu?"
The young king responded with a warm grin as he spoke. He could have told her the full truth, but he decided to simplify her experiences in a way that would be far less sorrowful for her.
"I don't think it means anything, Akane. Maybe your mind just found a strange way of expressing the guilt you felt toward all the other Otome you had to kill, and you were imagining yourself as them. It makes sense, and the fact your nightmares have stopped probably just means, deep down, you've realized it was all necessary."
Kazuya reached out and slowly brushed his hand over her head, starting from her forehead and ending at the tips of her short hair.
"Besides, all of the other girls in your dreams are gone, right? Nothing can take me away from you now."
Akane nodded happily at Kazuya's last statement. His words had completely put her remaining worries to rest, and she never found reason to explore the issue further. Kazuya leaned a few more inches forward and the couple silently shared a passionate kiss as their child continued cooing.
For better or worse, Akane achieved her wish of helping Kazuya maintain peace over Windbloom and bearing his bloodline. At the same time, Kazuya finally found what he spent millennia searching for in his current form: An obedient wife who was neither too clingy nor too independent for her own good, and would accompany him in shaping the world in his vision.
THE END.