Nina eased her battle position slightly while still keeping herself alert. She spoke toward Akane in a gentler voice than she had used when she was arguing with Nagi.
"Akane, I don't hate you for what happened to Arika and Mashiro. I don't know if the Columns forced you to fight them, or if you blamed Mashiro for war breaking out again and thought Kazuya would make a better ruler…"
Her attention briefly turned toward the silent Sergei before returning to Akane.
"…but I understand you only went through with it because you wanted to protect him."
Nina lowered her head briefly as she tried to keep her emotions in order. Her voice then became more forceful as she conveyed her desperation.
"But now you're going too far! Don't make the same mistake I almost made! Helping Nagi get his way and killing all of us won't solve anything!"
Akane's expression remained void of all sympathy. Having heard enough of Nina's speech, she launched herself toward her enemy with a heated battle cry. Nina immediately raised her staff in a defensive position to block Akane's oncoming attack. When the two fighters met in the center of Windbloom's throne room, Akane's tonfa clashed against the pole of Nina's lance. Both girls pushed their weapons against each other with equal strength as Akane shouted.
"I don't care, Nina! Kazu would still be alive if the world hadn't allowed Otome to exist! They have to be punished for what they did, and I don't care how I have to do it!"
The blue-haired Meister was barely able to hold her position. Her lance rattled in her hands as she responded.
"It doesn't matter who killed him, Akane! What matters is that you make his death mean something by being strong and making sure nothing like it happens again! Selling yourself to Nagi is only making things worse!"
Akane gasped softly as her brown eyes widened. Nina could feel her opposition slightly give way as she continued.
"Please, think about what you're doing! Do you really want Kazuya to be remembered as the reason all these Otome were murdered and that monster was allowed to drag the world to Hell? There are better ways to honor his memory!"
Akane's aggression now gave out entirely, and Nina pulled her lance back when her opponent's twin weapons clattered to the ground. Schwarz's Meister stepped a few paces backwards as she questioned herself in horror.
"What… am I doing…?"
She lowered her head in shame, and her eyes began to grow wet.
"Kazu, what have I done?"
She collapsed onto all fours and began wailing as tears streamed down her face. As Nina and Sergei patiently watched and waited, Akane made no effort to mask her pain and openly wept in a way she hadn't done since the day her beloved king died. In the midst of her sorrow, she tried to apologize for the suffering she had already caused in his name.
"Kazu, I'm so sorry!"
After her cries naturally stifled, Akane slowly lifted her head and stared forward. All emotion was now gone from her eyes. She held neither malice nor compassion, and all she had the motivation to do was hopelessly wish her lover was still with her.
"Kazu…"
Suddenly, a friendly hand reached down to lift her out of her fog. She looked up to see Nina and Sergei gazing back down toward her with warm smiles, with Nina extending her open palm as she spoke softly.
"It's okay, Akane. Just because he's gone doesn't mean you can't still fight for him."
Nina's smile brightened as she invited Akane to take her hand, and energy soon returned to the enlightened warrior's eyes. She slowly gripped Nina's hand, and her former rival helped her back to her feet. After she stood up, she briefly looked away in shame.
"Nina, I..."
As Akane visibly doubted herself, Nina spoke again to offer her support.
"Come on. Let's stop Nagi for good this time."
Akane's look of uncertainty changed to a determined glare with these words. She gave a solid nod as she replied.
"I'll take you to where he's keeping his weapon. I might be able to shut it down."
She bent down to lift her tonfa back into her hands, then turned her attention to the doorway the Archduke had exited moments earlier.
When the two Meisters propelled through Castle Windbloom's basement passageway, they were met by a group of Slaves that were serving as Nagi's final defensive line. Akane and Nina began fighting through them, side-by-side, with Sergei following close behind.
When Akane, Nina, and Sergei finally reached the Mjolnir, they found the nightmarish device surrounded by several of Nagi's staff and emitting a loud humming sound that gradually increased in pitch. Every Schwarz member other than the Archduke himself quickly fled once they saw two Otome had broken into the room, and the cult leader glared in anger upon seeing his Meister had betrayed him. His usual clever smirk soon returned, however, and he quickly placed himself in front of his invention and shouted with his arms outstretched.
"You're too late! Mjolnir has already been activated! My vision will become reality only minutes from now!"
The trio had split apart by now, with Akane placing her tonfa back into stasis before running to Mjolnir's main control console and typing in various commands on its keyboard. At the same time, while Sergei stood by the doorway leading out of the chamber, Nina approached Nagi and promptly leveled the maniacal dictator with a swift punch to the face. She then spoke in an annoyed tone.
"Shut up, Nagi."
As Akane was busy trying to find Mjolnir's disarming protocol, Nina took her staff into both hands and pointed the open end toward the doomsday weapon's core. Energy began to collect between the two prongs, and Nina would soon be able to fire a concentrated blast in hopes of destroying the terrifying invention.
Akane's eyes suddenly went wide as she read something on the monitor in front of her. She desperately shouted toward her female colleague.
"Don't do it, Nina!"
The energy Nina had been concentrating quickly dissipated, and she looked over her shoulder before responding.
"What's wrong?"
Akane spoke with horror in her voice.
"Nagi rigged it so it will automatically go off if it's damaged!"
The young warlord groggily lifted himself back to his feet as Akane spoke. After wiping away a thin trickle of blood from a cut on his lower lip, he taunted his enemies for their futile effort.
"That's right, ladies. If any part of the Mjolnir is destroyed, the remaining components go off by default. My ring also has an emergency backup of the control system, and the same thing will happen if you kill me now that it's activated. At its current charge, it's already powerful enough to create an energy field that would cover most of Windbloom. Unless you three can think of a way to destroy my ring, Mjolnir's core, AND all of the pillar relays within the same millisecond, all of those little girls outside are doomed."
Akane, Nina, and Sergei all gasped in disbelief at this revelation. Nagi's face warped into a demonic grin when he spoke again.
"Checkmate."
He then extended his left hand so the black imperial signet faced his Otome.
"Now, Akane, I suppose you can see your last minute rebellion has been in vain. There's nothing you can do to save the other Otome. However, if you behave from now on, maybe I'll decide to still employ you. How will you ever avenge poor Kazu's death without me?"
Akane looked downward as she thought to herself. She then quietly left the computer console and began a long, torturous journey back to the cult leader's side. She replied weakly with her head hanging low.
"Yes, Master."
Nina felt crushed when Akane did this. It appeared she had vastly underestimated the depth of Akane's emotional wounds, and she could do nothing but feel the utmost pity for her partner. She sulked as she quietly spoke.
"Akane, no..."
When Akane's charade had allowed her to get close enough to Nagi, she violently reached toward him and twisted around him, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. She now stood with her chest against his back, with her right arm wrapped around his torso and her left hand keeping his ring arm outstretched by the wrist. Nagi shouted in shock.
"What the…?!"
As her captive began vainly struggling against her Robe-augmented strength, Akane shouted toward her comrades with full conviction in her voice.
"Nina, Sergei! Get out of here! I'm going to make sure this bastard won't be able to hurt anyone else!"
Akane's left thumb suddenly pressed against Nagi's ring at an awkward angle. At the same moment, the Broken Heart Malachite earring emitted a short, shrill beep that everyone in the room could hear, and the metal insets on Akane's Robe began to glow with unusual red bands of light.
Nina and Sergei both knew what these events meant. Akane was determined to use something rarely even spoken of in Garderobe's classes as a last resort to stop Nagi's terrible creation. It was a feature intended to guarantee a Materialized Otome would never abuse her powers against her master's wishes, and it came with grave consequences to the offending Otome if her master was willing to sacrifice himself or herself to enforce them. Akane had used Nagi's contract ring to activate her own GEM's self-destruct mechanism.
Nina could barely bring herself to speak.
"She… can't be serious…"
Nagi's squirming continued as he screamed to his Otome.
"Release me, you stupid wench!"
Sergei stepped forward and begged Akane to stand down.
"Akane, stop it! Let Nina and me do this! Just deactivate your Robe and make a run for it! You have to live on, for King Kazuya's sake!"
Akane winced as the increasingly unstable energy coursing from her GEM began creating small bolts of electricity around her. She then replied to Sergei with more force in her voice than ever.
"This IS for his sake!"
Tears began streaming down her face. Nina and Sergei could both see she was straining to gather the courage for what she was about to do.
"I don't want to die, but if I'm not the one who does this, I'd just be letting more people be killed in his name! You two have your own lives to live!"
Nina couldn't help but feel like she was sacrificing her friend to selfishly spare herself, but she knew Akane was right. She willed her lance to disappear from her hand and solemnly approached Sergei's side before quietly speaking.
"Let's go, Sergei."
The nobleman nodded regretfully before allowing his Otome to hoist him into her arms. The two then turned to Akane before Nina spoke.
"Okay, Akane. We'll leave everything to you."
Despite her suffering, Akane was able to briefly smile as she watched Nina and Sergei safely fly out of the castle basement. She was now alone with her wicked leader, who soon began to squeal for mercy as he considered his own demise.
"Akane, ple-… please, let me go! I'll turn off Mjolnir! I swear, I'll turn it off!"
She ignored the villain's hollow promises, and only looked slightly upward and softly spoke to her true master.
"Please forgive me, Kazu…"
At the exact instant her GEM reached the end of its countdown and beeped a final time, Akane's watering eyes saw something that removed all of her fear and pain. It was a vision of her smiling lover, awaiting her with open arms.
Nina and Sergei reached the royal entranceway just as the rear half of Castle Windbloom erupted in a spectacular explosion. Two thin streams of vibrant green particles could be seen floating into the air and disappearing along with the colossal fireball. Akane had successfully destroyed the Mjolnir and all of Schwarz's resources, and the Slaves on the battlefield quickly disappeared as a result.
One of the Meister Otome who had been fighting near the castle approached Nina and Sergei. This young woman sighed in relief before speaking.
"You did great, Nina! You saved us!"
Nina silently looked toward the smoke rising from the castle with damp eyes, then replied.
"No, Akane saved us."
The girl blinked in confusion.
"Akane?"
Nina never took her eyes off the burning ruins when she responded to the Meister's inquiry.
"It's a long story."
Schwarz permanently dissolved after this battle. Their leader was gone, as was virtually all of their motivation. With the world at peace, the people of Windbloom then began rebuilding their castle and searching for their new monarch. There was little debate over who the throne should go to, and Nina eventually accepted the role of Queen after receiving Sergei's support.
Queen Nina's first official decision was a monumental one. With a heavy heart, she recounted the amount of tragedy and bloodshed that had occurred throughout the recent years as a result of her country's involvement in the Otome system, and announced she would not be recruiting an Otome of her own. Garderobe was eventually reopened to the public, however, and the queen played an active part in the long process of reforming the school.
History regarded Akane Soir, the Pure Heart Malachite, as the final Meister of Windbloom. Although the atrocities Akane had committed as a member of Schwarz prevented her from being widely recognized as a war hero, Nina was quick to scold anyone who spoke ill of her fallen comrade in her presence. The queen's account of what had actually transpired the day the War of the Five Columns ended would be carefully passed down within the royal family for generations to come.
THE END.
[closing track: "Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru" by See-Saw]