"How's about a drink to celebrate?" Ice cubes clink against the glass. All eyes focus on the lone "bunny guard" seated on the leather sofa. "First and last round's on me."

"Uh oh."

"Ah, Milpico. My favorite." He sits upright, bringing the container into view. "But, you see, if you let it sit, the water and syrup separate. ...Here, see? People are just like Milpico." He rises from the seat, pointing at the fluid separation. "Y'see, the syrup represents all human desire. and the water is their survival instinct as living beings. Just plain old water would be bland, and the syrup on its own would be too thick. But, when you mix them together..." As he's taking a sip, all those who can fight put up their defenses. "Mm, perfection. That's just how humans are."

"No..." Vernon's fear is evidenced by his horrified expression. "It can't be...!"

"As for me, though. I'm... more than 100% pure undiluted syrup." He drops the glass – the height causes a loud crashing sound. "And I'm not here for my own sake." The disguise is cast aside, revealing the real villain. "...because something wouldn't let the cup fill up with water."

Sol shouts the name of the enemy who outed himself. "Chaos!"

Asuka's the first to act. Before he could conjure an attack, his raised hand is shot at – the damage recoil causes him to lose his handle on the Tome. Instantly recovering, he reaches out to bring it back. It stops a few feet short of his grasp. Startled and sensing a presence behind him, the other six watch as the book lands in Chaos's right hand.

Ky immediately attacks from the rear – swiping the item from the adversary in the blink of an eye. Hooking his right arm around his former pupil's neck, with gloved hands holding the uncovered gunmetal flesh, Chaos notes that he's surrounded by a tri-axis formation. Ky stands to his twelve, with Sol on the seven, and Aria on the five; Giovanna and Jack-O stand closer to Vernon as a two-person barrier.

"Fine." Chaos feigns surrender, knowing at least one of them can't do anything. "You can have it."

Feeling the end of a gun against his jawline, Asuka hesitantly questions, "when did you notice?"

"I wrote the thing, remember? I noticed it right away. The real Tome..." He taps the center of his chest, "...is right here." Light seeps through as a blank object that later defines itself is extracted, stopping with the spine remaining in the body. The Tome opens by itself, with the frame it's attached to levitating and orienting itself horizontally before ascending.

"You're joking..." Sol strings a coherent sentence together. "You... You fused with the Tome!?"

"This was the safest way," his voice was audibly hoarse despite the low volume.

"Until today, maybe." A sphere of energy forms around the motionless body before it rises higher. "Thanks for roughing him up first." Chaos points the gun he held against Asuka at Aria's heart. "A parting gift, from me to you." Sol and Ky attempt to intervene, with the first grabbing his forearm and redirecting the weapon. Unfortunately, the two fired bullets connected – the first lodged itself in her stomach, where the second tore the fabric and skin on her left hip. She stumbles back, dropping to an unbalanced kneel and using her right knee for support, immediately applying pressure to one of the wounds to stop the bleeding. "Oh, look. It does work against her." He shoves off the false offender, giving him a condescending smile before jumping up to stand on top of the human book. "And here I thought you were above committing uxoricide again."

Following the forms' concealment in a column of blinding light, one of the castle operators relayed what was causing the quake several floors below. "Alert! There's been a major activity spike detected from the interrogation room!"

Leo and Dizzy look at the screen displaying the live feed before it blacked out. "…I-No…!"

A pair of candles dimly lit the chamber. Seated with her hat obscuring her face, I-No's body is in the middle of a rapidly intensifying magic storm. "I'm here."

"Just in time for the grand finale. And everybody on this planet can play a part in our special show." The same energy begins collecting below Chaos – a windstorm kicks up and obscures the collective line of sight; those around brace for the worst.

From where his aircraft's hovering, Potemkin watches the unfolding events from a bird's-eye view. The particle storm reaches his elevation, surrounding him with clouds. "...What the hell is going on!?"

The man that placed himself in the center of the light keeps a grin on his face. "There's no way you'll believe me when I say this...! But I'm really hoping you guys win. Because..." He's now fully obscured, reduced to a blank silhouette. "I'd like to see you again. Hahahaha!" Changing from gold to pure white, the light envelops the environment.

An uneasy quietness comes over while the dust settles. The rest of the band remained where they stood, ensuring they weren't a degree separated, where Jack-O runs over to Aria's aid. She helps her to her feet, taking a few slow steps to regroup. "I'm… not… -rrgh- I'm not okay." Aria hears Sol approach her – she looks up to see he's crestfallen at his inability to keep her out of harm's way. "Don't -agh- worry. I'll make it. I think…."

A fusion's occurred.

I-No appears, floating in the middle of a red magical circle before them, slowly descending a few inches. She looks over her new form: her body and hair are statue grey, clothes are all black with white accents, and there's a pair of mint green flames where the eyes on her face and hat are. "Haaaah... Looks like I'm an even shittier creature than I was before." She notices a certain haloed woman among the group, next to who she had a short conversation with several hours earlier. She doesn't acknowledge either of them, walking above and past in mid-air to the airship's edge.

Sol ignores the nonverbal warnings not to follow. Approaching the goddess's location, he climbs the ledge, taking steps to stop on her right. "Want me to sing you 'Happy Birthday?'"

"Nothing happy about it. God's all done with creation now." She turns to face him, greeted by him looking back out of the corner of his left eye. "...You lost your powers?"

"Yeah, a couple of pounds, too."

"Too bad." Placing her hand on her hip, she redirects her attention to their north. "I was looking forward to one final showdown. ...Eh, guess it doesn't really matter anymore. That little girlfriend of yours would do in your place. I wonder how easily she'd break now that she's injured."

"Hang on," he doesn't pay any mind to the next threat to Aria's life, opting to rotate his body toward her. "Where's that damn smirk of yours? You finally became a god, shouldn't you be thrilled?"

"What does this view look like to you?"

"What's something you don't like?"

"Milk."

"Then milk. Even if I were to knock you down from here, you wouldn't die."

"Hah. To me, it looks like a 1." The group that remained in place cautiously watch on. "It's all zeros and ones. That's just what it is. There used to be more zeros. That balance would create twos and threes, a beautiful mixture of discord and harmony. But now, my world consists of only ones."

"And you plan to make everything zeros?"

"That would be pointless," she starts walking back from the edge. "A butterfly can't turn back into a caterpillar."

"You don't need Asuka, do you?"

"Couldn't hurt to hold onto the Tome."

"It ain't a gossip rag for gods. If you give him back," he summons the Outrage in his left. "I'll let you go."

"Hah. Well," she stops and looks over her shoulder. "Aren't you a stud?"

Asuka's the only one who shouts a warning. "Hah. R... Run, Frederick! You don't stand a chance against her!"

"I wouldn't bet on that." Sol shot Ky a glance before he lifts his weapon – it activates to an alternate form before firing. The attack did nothing against the barrier she set up. Her counter to the feeble effort is telekinetically throwing the weak foe several meters away against a tree. He lands in the worst possible way for his current state: back-first with an exceeding amount of force to shatter his spine.

Potemkin swoops in, with Vidia's "arms" activated for the offensive. Unfortunately for him, he's stopped before contact could be made. I-No's blue-tinted barrier parries past the halfway point between them; she lazily flicks her wrist downward, sending him crashing down. Giovanna's quick on her feet, flash-stepping to the side to get Vernon to safety – the wreckage misses the other three nearby. She scoffs, failing to notice the witch teleporting behind her – what happens next is she's sent flying into a faraway wall. "House lights."

Ky prepares to unsheathe the Thunderseal, flinching when I-No turns to lock eye contact akin to a predator locating the prey. She reaches upward, bringing the moon near the White House. The remaining four involuntarily widen their eyes and feel their hearts skip from the dangerous proximity. "This is a trick. It isn't right. If the moon were that close, our planet would be thrown into turmoil."

"Nice work, boy genius. You're right, this is a little trick. But the moon really is right there. Cities aren't being crushed by waves, the ocean isn't boiling, and the moon didn't break up in the Earth's atmosphere..." She starts to exit, headed to the White House's south portico, bringing Asuka with her. "Because I'm preventing it. You see?" A momentary stop and she turns to face the group again – three of which are looking back at her. "Kill me, and the trick all falls apart."

"...So," Vernon speaks up. "None of us can attack you."

"Pfft. Kinda bullshit, huh? In my world, there's no more winning or losing." She observes Aria reaching out for the moon before lowering her head and shaking it. From where she directed her vision next – the location she threw her partner to – the goddess was quick to come up with a taunt. "At a loss for words now that you don't have Darien to help, Serena?" I-No puts the moon back in place, taking her leave for good this time.

"Aria?" Jack-O cautiously approaches. "Are you… okay?"

"…I appreciate your concern, but no…." She prevents herself from expressing the extreme mixed emotion she's feeling. "Everything… everything is true…."

Vernon and Jack-O recover the unconscious body, laying it down as Ky kneels to check the carotid artery for any trace of a pulse. He's relieved to learn this isn't where his lifelong rival turned father-in-law will die. How his mother-in-law's injury hasn't shown any sign of healing continues to worry him.

"What is I-No planning?"

"I haven't the slightest idea..." Ky stands up, brushing aside the imminent danger he's quietly decided to go against. "But I know we cannot let her see it through. I'm not sure anywhere could be considered safe anymore... but you should get away from here immediately."

Once there, everything comes true
I've heard of such a dreamy place

It doesn't take another psychic prediction for Aria to see where this is going. She stands in front of Ky to prevent him from leaving. "You're gonna fight that thing? You've survived several encounters with me before, but you'll certainly die here!"

Do you think my broken wings will heal?
Hope so, 'cause I can't fly well

The right end of his mouth curves downward. "I've seen what you can do solo, both as an opponent that trained you and as a spectator. Unless you can get complete control of your powers, specifically that new one, I suggest you stay back and keep them safe."

I wonder if this rain will stop one day

"Ky, please." Curiously enough, her motherly tone's prominently heard here blended with the concern.

"Jack-O," he turns his attention to her external voice of reason. "Can you restrain her?"

"What!? No, I won't!" She voices an objection to the order. "If anything, I agree with what she's trying to tell you!"

Someone's been crying all along

"Don't do this alone!"

No worries, there's only one road so I can't get lost

"I made Dizzy a promise that we'll all come back home from this. I'll stall I-No for time until you're healed," he steps past and shoots her one last look, shifting from eye contact to eye her open wound before departing. "If you can regenerate, that is."

All I have to do is walk

Once Ky was a far enough distance away, a jolt of pain came from the bullet that remained in Aria's stomach. Wincing at her own blood on her glove, she watches as her son-in-law remains on his path. "What the hell did Dizzy see in you…?"

Place by the name of heaven, the promised land
Everyone is waiting in a very long line
Place by the name of heaven, there's a comfort in that
I don't hesitate, just be guided

At the base of the Washington Monument, which was encased in red light, I-No stands by smirking as her former "employer" is concealed in a purple barrier. Her body glows pure white, allowing her to create a titanic version of herself that can touch the planet. She places her hands in line with the equator, cradling it as she leans in.

I wonder how far I have come
And what have I ever done

Goldlewis enters the Pentagon's control room. Oblivious to what the crew bore witness to, he stops after taking one step through the door. "We've confirmed the safety of each dignita— Hm? What's wrong?"

Alright well, I'm sure I'll be there soon

"I don't know," Erica responds. "It would seem that an observatory in Finland has detected something." The operators present drop what they're doing to look on as the room lights up. A loud whirring is audible as the lights stop short of blinding intensity.

All I have to do is walk

"What... the hell is that...?"

The translucent figure appears from the shoulders up. Her face and hair are clearly defined, with the eyes replaced by solid white circles. She rotates her focus about her right, phasing through the solid structures with her hands up and open. He takes instant notice of the tear that involuntarily rolled down his cheek.

Place by the name of heaven, the promised land
I wonder what words are waiting for me.

The war room's screens and monitors are unaffected, just like the Pentagon's. Rendered immobile from awe in what they and the rest of the world were seeing, the Illyrian crew's also tearing up as an arm is reaching in.

Millia senses her long-time acquaintance had a tear run down his face – despite wearing a blindfold and trading his sight for power all those years ago. Her voice retains neutrality in its tone, contradicting the saddened expression. "...Zato?"

He turns his body toward her, touching the small stream. "Am I... crying?"

Place by the name of heaven, there's a comfort in that
I don't hesitate, just be guided

Leo wipes his away, while Millia does the same. "...This is..."

Dizzy's no stranger to crying, but even now she's incapable of holding herself back. "I can't stop these either…."

"I'm not…." Ramlethal sniffles and brushes aside her tears with a knuckle. "I've cried on my own before, but… these… these aren't natural…!"

Erica walks in between the bystanders; heels clacking against the floor provide natural noise amidst the chatter. She stops to stand near Chipp and Goldlewis. The younger of the two white-haired men remains impassive, while also shedding a tear, as the rest clamor at how the lights suddenly turned off. What stands before them is the featureless back of the goddess's head.

I haven't talked to my heart for a long time
When did I stop flying, is it my wings that are crying?

Power is lost around the world. I-No's form breaks through the war room's wall of monitors, with her top half towering over the crew. The capital's citizens look on and panic as the air is filled with particles that move upward – in the distance, her form's visible from the waist up. Along with an abandoned town in some far-off location, the view from Zepp's control center displays the same. Gabriel's stone-faced exterior cannot hold a tear back either.

Place by the name of heaven, the promised land
Can I find myself again in that line?

The red light surrounding the Monument remains active, giving it the appearance of a beacon. I-No's voice is soft yet echoes throughout the air. "Free... dom. Freedom. All of you are now free. From old age, hunger, and disease."

Place by the name of heaven, there's a comfort in that
(Freedom in my hands means that I can get lost)

She sits back, crossing her right leg over the left. "From power, status, standing, appearance, location, and even time." Unaffected by all of this, Ky continues approaching. "I've freed you from all of these shackles."

Place by the name of heaven, wings I'm sorry
I may suck it in, but I should have flown

Leaning in, the storm surrounding the planet grows stronger. "Now tell me your answer."

The name of heaven, I can get out of line now
Freedom in my hands means that I can get lost

(Freedom in my hands means that I can get lost)

Tense silence underlays the dangerous wind speeds. I-No's negative projection looms over them, waiting as the one who decided to fight back continues his stride. The real I-No orients Asuka upright, dispelling the barrier as the Tome disappears – closing again and pushing itself back in his chest cavity. She shrugs at his regaining of balance, hearing Ky's footsteps stopping behind her. "You can still look at me with that fire in your eyes?" She pivots about her left heel to acknowledge him. " I can respect that."

"There's no more need to put on airs. What are you trying to start?"

"Nothing at all. I merely want to observe. I've given them an opportunity, that's all."

"Opportunity?"

"Once this is over, all of mankind will gain the same power I have. They will see everything I can. A world of freedom and equality. A world without hope." Faint rays of late-afternoon sunlight shine through the murky clouds. "However, any living organism, when faced with the risk of extinction... gains an opportunity for evolution. If mankind's potential is infinite... I want to know the future that awaits us."

"Even a perfect being could not necessarily create a perfect world."

"Then I'll leave it to the next generation."

"...I see," Asuka comments aloud as a frontline bystander. "Magic is the power to bend the rules of nature. If all of mankind were to have unfettered access to power on the scale of I-No's..."

She finishes the statement for him. "It would kill this world and birth a new universe. And I'll repeat the process. Over and over, as many times as it takes until I've found my answer."

"Heh, now I feel silly for getting so anxious. That does indeed sound like the work of a god. However..." Ky unsheathes the Thunderseal, pointing it directly at her. "Do you truly know yourself well enough to look for the weaknesses of all mankind?"

"The only things that could stop me now are the [Flame of Corruption] or the [Scales of Juno.] And they're long gone." She sent an energy blast at him, which was smoothly parried to the back-right, resulting in an explosion. "...What?"

Heightened auditory senses allowed Aria to overhear across the gap. Part of Justice's initial clue replayed the mechanical voice normally to confirm. "'You still have the [Scales of Juno] in your body.' You… it was you I heard."

"...Not quite. Slight though it may be..." He raises his left hand to cover his face, triggering the transformation. His entire body glows pure blank white – the upper-left corner of his face and the length of his left arm changed to a negative palette. A crack runs across his cheek, with a third of his hair turned white, and his eye shifting to a red iris atop a black sclera. "...it's right here. Dragon Install!" He rushes her down, with her summoning her guitar to initiate a fight. The two weapons clashed four times – both combatants were warped to a different spot with each instance of contact.

"The blood of Juno!?" Asuka managed to mutter out upon seeing another person bear the same (or a similar) power.

Several more clashes between the two later, I-No temporarily shifts her position to slide vertically up the Monument. Ky tosses aside all rationality and sprints up the obelisk. His enraged state overpowers his mentality as he puts himself right in the path of a counterattack.

"Only a few drops." She creates an explosion, but the Thunderseal glows, with Ky remaining unharmed. "An absolute barrier...!? You little SHIT!"

Ky readies himself, following through by impaling I-No through her chest, but he's thrown directly to the ground. Remaining at a safe distance from where he landed and the dust cloud kicked up, Asuka watches Ky's body fall at a high speed. I-No spins her body around twice before falling – she lands on her feet and takes out the sword. Her defeated foe lies on his back, staring her down and baring his teeth.

Trying out another possible ability, Jack-O reaches inside Aria's stomach area with the intention of extracting the bullet. "Would you stop squirming? You're making this harder than it should be. I'm afraid I would damage something if my hand were to slip."

"That – AAAAGH!" Aria slams a fist against the ground. "That actually hurts!"

She rolls her eyes before stopping to grab the round. "A-ha. Found it. This might sting." It's pulled out from their shared body, dropping to the ground after she briefly inspects it.

"Thanks. Didn't want to find out this way," Aria watches the two wounds heal by themselves, leaving bloodstains and holes on her shirt. "But I do have a regeneration factor as you said." She nonverbally utilizes a reversion spell to repair and clean the clothing. "Didn't know I could do that either." Lowering the goggles to her eyes, she conducts a vitals scan on Frederick's stationary body. His neutral visage does nothing to ease her anxiety.

A worried Vernon watches over her shoulder, asking, "how's it looking?"

"How he was thrown against a tree should've killed or paralyzed him, but he's alive. Barely…." The holo-screen display mimics a hospital room's system, with the centermost slowly flashing red and reading [CRITICAL CONDITION]. Her frail composed guise shatters. She lists off what's come to fruition in the span of a few hours. "The White House, a spaceship, negative goddess, book in a chest, a courtyard with an obelisk, and a de-powered hero…." How he was lying in front of her precisely matched what she saw. "This… this can't be happening."

"You knew this'd happen all along," they recall her sharing she'd know how the day ends after running against gravity, dodging shipping containers that flew out from the garage door, and safely stopping in a hallway during the White House's ascension. "But weren't sure?"

Her voice unintentionally raises, shouting, "I didn't know what to make of it!"

"We can't blame you for that either." Jack-O sees that Aria helped herself up to stand. "Where are you going now?"

"I can't believe I'm doing this but I'm going to stop her."

"You? Stop I-No alone? That's a horrible idea! You should stay here," she stands up as well, "and I'll go in your place! That's what I was designed to do!"

"That won't be necessary."

"But—"

"When we first met, you told me that the [Scales of Juno] were in my body, right? I-No just revealed one of her weaknesses: me. The [Flame of Corruption] is gone and we've run out of options..." Aria removes her eyewear, setting it on a screen that'd play a farewell message should a certain amount of time pass. After kneeling to lay it on his chest, she heavily sighs before brushing the dirt off her pants. "I was looking forward to seeing Iseo with you… Goodbye."

As she's running towards certain death, Jack-O calls out in a vain attempt to stop her. "Aria? You're not coming back, are you?" Sharing a body has some perks – she can guess where this is headed. "Shit! Aria! Wait! Come back here! Don't do this!"

Vernon stays behind, watching two-thirds of his life-saving group leave. His eyes drift to the right, seeing that the message on the magi-tech device automatically started. "If you're seeing this, it's probably too late. I've likely done something really stupid, like accidentally dropping under the radar, committing a crime, or… heh. Stopping a god by merging with them at the cost of my own life."

"She's… she's going to –…?"

"Vernon..." Frederick's raspy voice manages to catch his attention. His eyes are narrowly open and he's clenching his jaw. "I got a favor to ask."

A severely injured King stands before the witch. "I'll give you credit for one thing..." She points at him, conjuring another attack that'd surely be fatal. "You sent a little chill down my spine there." He recoils instead of moving out of the way – the resulting explosion caused a fiery cloud of smoke where he stood. Once it cleared, there wasn't a body there. "Hm?"

"After all you've done..." Axl makes his presence known – he's who swooped in to rescue Ky. "Is this really what you wanted?"

"What, now you wanna stand in my way?"

"No, I'm not here for a fight."

I-No turns around to face him, noticing he's standing and Ky's kneeling. "Then why are you here?"

"Crass, violent... A loner who isn't afraid of anything."

"You mean me?"

"Actually, I was talking about Sol. But yeah. You two are really similar. Just with one key difference. Unlike Sol, you don't know what you want. He does and he has something you don't."

"...a pretty, little girlfriend with a monstrous side to her too?"

"I know who she was before, but now what did I miss? Can she turn into a dragon like him? You once told me... That people have to find their own right to keep living. I think... they have to find their happiness, too. We pick up a memory to take with us as we go. We carved the knowledge into ourselves... that we were happy before, even if only once. So that we can remember it at the end of our lives."

"I'd like to see... if you can remember yours." Her heel-turning generates a storm to brew where she stood.

"If I did, would it make you smile? Seeing the look in your eyes now... It makes me miss your sadistic look of joy when you'd say, 'you asked for this.'"

"What you told me earlier on the coastline about how I look exactly like someone you once knew. How can you be so sure of that? I don't have a history." The green flames where her sunglasses were burned brighter, and the storm grew stronger. "You and I have both been building our fictional worlds. Today one of them comes to a close, that's all."

A rogue gamma burst interrupts what would've been another attack. Dirt and pebbles are kicked up from her abrupt stop on Axl's nine, with a quiet jangle of a chain. "Not so fast."

The trio of friendly faces all turn to her – with one surprised at how it zipped by, failing to critically damage the target it directly hit. "Aria?"

"Someone's got the guts to fight me. It's you again, Justice." I-No stares directly at the blue-clad woman. Out of the three, Ky's the only one who knows she hates being referred to by that name; Asuka and Axl take notice of his worried visage, figuring the fuse lit up. "Kinda liked it better when you were almost on the verge of death. Or, better yet, didn't exist."

It doesn't faze her. "Same goes for you when you weren't a god." Aria thinks up a ploy to distract her from further destruction, taking note of the celestial version of herself that's dwarfing Earth. "That's a lot of power you've got. How's about we ditch this sad excuse of a rock after destroying it?"

"Uh, Ari? What are you doing?" She elbows the man on her three. "Ouch."

I-No smiles at the idea and sudden side change. "It'd be more fun with someone. You're leaving Sol for me?" Aria's acting is convincing, confirming her answer with a nod. Her smile turns into a smirk, with her beckoning the would-be co-ruler via a suggestive motion; the way she curled her index finger back resembled stroking. "Come here."

Aria fakes a smile as she walks forward, mostly unaffected by the intense wind speeds. Putting on her best seductive voice, she begins with, "from one world ender to another…." She holds out a hand for the enemy to take. I-No harshly pulls her closer; she puts her right hand on the other's lower back, with her left thumb poking under her chin. Aria's body becomes negatively colored from the contact. "So far so good, but this is very unpleasant. The girls from those old spy movies made it look easier… Do you know which one it'll be?"

I-No inches in as if to kiss her – repositioning her left hand to cup her cheek after brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "This one?"

Concealing her disgust from the unwanted advances, she drops her act. "No."

Jack-O finally catches up to her, shouting after catching her breath, "I know what you're going to do! Don't do it!"

Aria changes her voice back to its normal tone. "It's going to be yours."

"…?" She thinks it's a joke, raising an eyebrow and letting out a breathy laugh. "And just what the hell are you going to do? Huh?"

"…Something everyone wouldn't want me to." Aria breaks free from I-No's hold by punching her sides and hastening back. Distancing herself and activating her comm for presumably the last time, she takes a deep breath. "Whoever's listening… especially you… it's been fun." She powers it off and chose the last-ditch option: jumping into the witch's body to stop her from within.

Her allies shared the same reaction, all reaching out in front and shouting, "NO!"

Once she was inside, Aria emerges from a dark purple portal into a strange void. No endpoint in sight, she scans the red-tinted space sparsely decorated with hazy and smoky black platforms. Staying where she's floating, she curls her body into a fetal position, holding it there for a few seconds before uncurling and emitting a divine light.

"What the-…!" I-No stumbles back before standing on the pad of one of her boots. Strong pink and purple-colored wind gusts surround her, along with a cloud of magic particles. "Why you little piece of—! What the fuck do you think you're doing!? Get the hell out of my body!" She frantically tries reaching inside herself to tear Aria out. Her body continues glowing as she fights back, freely levitating in the space.

"Never!" She almost breaks I-No's forearms, causing her to retract them. "All three of my lives were short-lived, but this one… this is the one I'm fine with dying over! That old bag Ariels referred to me by the divine seed in my body – the [Scales of Juno] – and if this is the only way, then I'll do it! At the cost of my life, I'm taking you down with me!" Color is regained as she reverts to a human state; the storm around the remaining five abruptly ceased.

Of the four nearby that heard the exchange, Asuka tries to reason with the drastic measure taken. "No… dammit! You can't! Wait… Ariels… the [Scales]…." he recalls how Aria's powered-up form bore a strong resemblance to Ky's, although it was on a different area of her body. "Her current frame is the one I duplicated for Jack-O, and I put a spare in that one… She's aware of the backup unit's purpose, but… oh no. The failsafe is still in your body!? What are you thinking!? We can't lose both of you!"

After throwing her halo on the ground, Jack-O locks the resized shackle around her waistline. "You should've waited to restore Frederick's humanity, you idiot! Use that 'strong magic' of yours and open a portal!" She hands Dorpos over to Axl, barking a command at him. "Here. Hold this."

Axl's confused as to what's happening. "H-hold on! Ari!? There's two of her!?" He recognizes the long white hair with a red underside, halo, red eyes, and belted jumpsuit. "Wait a minute. I know you!" It's been a while since their encounter with a near-existence shattering unsolicited answer. "You're the one who told me and I-No who we are!"

"Yeah, hey again. That's great you remember me, and I'm sorry for calling you a mistake too, but there's no time! Pull the chain back!"

"What do you need me for!?" His hands hold the last part of the link while three servants take the sphere. "What are you planning to do now!?"

Checking the improvised belt's strength one last time, she mentally prepares herself for a rescue. This situation reminded her of how the mission at the Celestial Altar went – instead of swapping places with Elphelt to prevent a doomed-to-fail fusion that'd bring about the Absolute World, she's recovering her counterpart without the need for an override. "I'm going to save my sister!" The unstable entryway hinders her from reaching in at first – it was created with a prevention measure to keep this Jack-O from accidentally fusing with I-No in the process. She fights against the severe pain, breaking in and offering her red-palmed gloved hand as a lifeline. "Aria! I know you can hear me! Come out!"

"She's human again…." Ky rises to his feet and remarks on the sudden reversion. The physical change of his Dragon Install wears off, altering his appearance to normalcy. "Axl, right?"

"Yeah?"

He puts his hands in front of Axl's on the chain. "Can you –" he grits his teeth and digs his heels against the concrete. Muscle tension builds up in his legs from overexertion. "Can you use those time powers of yours to give us something to work with?"

His comm goes online with a familiar voice on the other end. "Ky?"

"Ram? Didn't the power go out?"

"We're running on the auxiliary here. I'm picking up a powerful presence headed your way." She recognizes it as the former adversary that trailed the quartet earlier – remaining unaware of the identity. "I'm saying this from a gut feeling, but they might be able to help."

"Care to tell me what we just saw!?" Dizzy demands an answer as to why her mother unexpectedly vanished. "I know she's irrational at times, but why did she do that!?"

Asuka stands closer to the others, taking the earpiece out and answering over the channel, "it's a long story!"

Her infuriated tone continues to surprise everyone within earshot. Those nearest to her flinch as her wings harshly flap and her tail slams against the floor. "You'd better tell me everything if we survive this, Gear Maker!"

"Now that is one pissed-off queen." Axl gives him a side-eyed glare. "I missed what happened for you to look like rubbish –"

"Aria beat the shit out of him," both Ky and Jack-O respond by cutting him off mid-sentence.

"Aw, I wanted to see her in action again." Disappointment's clear in his voice, temporarily frowning. "Do us a favor and take care of this."

"I can't make amends with her at all and now I've made her daughter angry…." Asuka takes hold of the chain. "You two do what you must."

"Whatever any of you have in mind," Jack-O briefly redirects her attention to the men behind her. "Hurry it up!"

"Seems we're all on the same page here… we need to get a band together." Axl lets go and stops time, allowing for him and Ky to split from the now-frozen Asuka, Jack-O, and I-No.

"I'll meet the one Ram mentioned. She's all the way on the other end, but you should head towards the Service agent first."

"Got it." The two blonds went in different directions, with Axl running across to recover Giovanna from the crumbled wall. The first thing he sees as he's approaching is a whining Rei pawing at her owner to wake. "Hey, how are you holding up?"

Gio groans while opening her eyes, lifting her head a few centimeters from the broken surface. "Hanging in there." She winces at the pain going through her body. "Ouch." Slowly moving one of her arms to mitigate the damage, she brushes chunks of debris out of her hair. "Shouldn't you be helping Aria and Jack-O?"

"So that's her name? I have a different idea. We all are." He holds out his right hand for her to use as support – Rei kicks aside some parts of the wall to help her stand. "My name's Axl. What's yours?"

"Giovanna, but just call me Gio." She regains her balance, coughing and stretching to clear her head. "Why did everything… freeze?" Scanning the surroundings, she notices mostly everything's static with a greyscale overlay. "You've got freaky time powers or something?" He responds by nodding. "That could come in handy."

"There's more here, right? Who should we go to next?"

"That big guy from Zepp. I think he's still in that assault craft." The pair run to find Potemkin in the Vidia wreckage – she calls ahead to bait a response. "Yo, giant man."

His groggy voice answers with a hint of annoyance after regaining consciousness. "I have a name." Pushing the parts away so he could free his body from the pilot's "seat," he jumps down, landing in front of them, stretching his large frame. "It's Potemkin."

"Sorry, never learned it. Let's see," she counts her current group. "One, two, three… if this is headed where I think, we need two more people."

"We can be of assistance on that front." Nagoriyuki caught up with those unaffected by the freeze. Recovering from his earlier clash with Aria, Jack-O, and Giovanna, and momentary defeat against Sol, he approaches beside Ky. "How do you three feel fighting alongside us?"

She instinctively flinches but doesn't assume a fighting stance. Rei's equally wary and hides behind with her tail tucked between her legs. "You again!?"

He brushes this aside, shrugging. "I warned you earlier that I had no control over my own actions. I've broken free from Chaos's mind control."

Axl answers in place of his trio. "We'll take all the help we can get."

"The five of us separated won't do anything against I-No as is." Ky shifts his focus to Giovanna and Potemkin, having been a witness to how they were effortlessly thrown aside. He's thankful the surface damage is minimal, and the pair aren't crippled. "I've tried and she got the best of me."

They were taken aback by the firsthand account – the evidence was the visible bruising and dirt patches on his clothes. "You fought that thing?"

"So have I, but not in the form she's taken now. She was a pain when I was abruptly woken up this morning…." Nago folds his arms, lowering and shaking his head after recalling how Chaos and I-No made a fool of him in the destruction. He won't forgive himself for letting victory slip out of his grasp against someone who didn't take their first clash seriously. "Aria, on the other hand…." He fondly smiles at her proving she's a worthy adversary he wouldn't mind sparring with at another time. "She gave me a thrilling battle."

"And now she's done something unreasonable. If we're combined to help since Sol's gone," Ky's reminding himself of his Order days, though he's not taking the role of leader this time. "We can give them a fighting chance."

From Axl leaving the immediate area, I-No's stronger temporal control resumes the flow of time. Against her better judgment, a little more than Jack-O intended of herself ends up reaching inside the goddess's body. Her right arm's still in the portal, waiting for who's inside to grab on. "I refuse to accept you're fine with throwing your life away! Do you have ANY idea what it took to bring you back in the first place!?" She's gnashing her teeth trying to maintain her footing against the pain; her eyes start to glow pure red. "Please! Don't make everything we've worked for go to waste!"

"You get away from me too!" I-No yells as the colossal rendering of her image begins collapsing. The only benefit to this is all the planet's power sources are back on. She tries to rip Jack-O out of her, failing as the latter phases in and out of corporeality. "Why can't grab on to you!?"

A fourth servant appears to smack the side of her head with their shield. She kicks the other with a direct heel to the face. "Shut up!" The same one takes hold of her hands, holding them behind her back as she's wriggling to break free. Asuka helps by creating and locking a pair of restraints around her wrists to make this easier.

Another hand reaches in next to hers. Aria identifies who the fingerless glove belonged to, leaning herself back out of hesitation. After a blind reach-in, the hand's index pokes the sun charm on her limiter. This additional presence keeps his head down – face obscured by his messy and recently cut hair. "I'll take it from here."

Aria recognizes the voice – albeit it's raspy and how he's able to speak is the real miracle. What she doesn't see is the confused look on her first rescuer's face as she asks, "you're okay…?"

"Huh? Oh, you're shi— AUGH!" The servant that was holding I-No's arms in place kicks the center point of her spine.

"…If you wanted to call it off, couldn't it have been over drinks instead?" His tone signifies he's nearing a breaking point – almost the prime example of melancholic despite the smile he's forcing. "Leaving me your goggles to play a farewell as a memento…." He has the mentioned object in his right hand; the lenses are caught in a cycle of flashing on and off. His index runs upward along the limiter's chain, stating, "at least you're still wearing that necklace I made for you."

"I don't care! I've already made my decision! You can't tell me how this ends!" Aria's body is frozen in place despite her best effort to move away. There's an invisible force keeping her there. "Stopping me would mean you're dragging everyone else down! Don't compromise this because of your selfish wants!"

"Seriously!?" The A.I.'s eyes glow brighter. "He's not the selfish one here! It's you!"

"Who are you to say I'm dragging 'em down? The planet, the universe, the future..." His smile vanishes and his grip tightens around the fastening band. "Who gets to determine the value of humanity? The answer now is none of us. Isn't it selfish of mankind to survive in the first place?"

Asuka's grip begins slipping – the fabric of his gloves chafed against the metal. Despite the favor asked of him, Vernon followed his bodyguard. He lends his assistance by also keeping the chain in place long enough to allow the former to regain his hold. "Can you two stop arguing!? Now isn't the time for impromptu couple's counseling!"

Far enough to grab her left shoulder, Frederick secures a firm grasp on the leather. "I must be the most insufferable person in existence if you decided to leave again." He doesn't filter his words, letting what he's thinking come out. "Desperation thinly disguised as self-righteous heroism isn't a good reason to disappear on me." A tear runs down the side of his face. "This wouldn't be the way you want to go out, now is it?"

"What are you doing!" She swats it away. It isn't long before the same hand takes her forearm. "Let go of me!"

"No! I've already lost you twice. I'm not letting you die a third time!"

"We'll all die if she isn't stopped!"

"And saving us equates to you losing your life in the process!? [Scales] of whatever or not," his hand slides down to hers, holding to the best of his ability. "Your life isn't worth losing for this!" Voice now to shouting volume, he looks directly into the portal to find her hesitant figure gazing back. "Even if it means the end of the world… I'm not letting you go!"

"Goddammit, Aria!" Jack-O's still refusing to give up on her. "You won't listen to me, Vernon, or Asuka, but I know for a fact you'll listen to Frederick! Remember what you told us earlier? We can all stop I-No together! You, me, and everyone else! Get out of here, now!"

She lets tears escape before grabbing both of their hands and letting them pull back and retrieve her. It felt as if there were an extra pair of hands of different sizes (and species? Only one of the two felt human-like) pushing her from behind for a boost.

Watching the trio's reunion after the soles of Aria's boots touch the ground and they move back to a safe distance, I-No's confused voice was lowly audible. "…why'd you do that?" The restraint undoes itself – she tends to her wrists, rotating them about the joint sockets to ease tension. "You absolute morons… Nothing can save you now."

Jack-O hugs Aria straight away, tightly wrapping her arms around her sister, and placing her right cheek on the blue jacket. "Don't… don't do that again."

Aria hears light sniffling and sobbing against her chest. "What was that you mentioned about not having feelings?"

"I said I think I was given them." She lets go, wiping away her tears – the servants place her halo back above her head. "Turns out, that's true, regardless of if they're artificial or not. If you left, I don't know what I'd do."

Frederick restyles Aria's bangs, ruffling them a bit before putting the goggles back in their rightful place. Wiping away the tears that ran down her face with the back of his index, he softens his voice to ask, "did I save you from yourself this time?"

Aria stares at the zipper tab on his shirt, recalling her words from the trip back home yesterday. "Ha… haha… look at that." She pokes the center of his chest again, flicking the metal with her thumb. "You took me out."

"Now you crack a joke?"

"Can't help it," she responds with a weak smile. "You really are a reckless dumbass. Time for plan b."

"Huh?"

"My vision. We're going to save the goddamn world, even if that means destroying it." She looks out of the right corner of her eyes, indicating who's behind her. "We just need to buy enough time."

Almost on cue, Axl compresses time, allowing the group he gathered to reemerge on the battlefield. Maximizing the effects of the freeze, Asuka seized the opportunity window to teleport the party of ten further away from I-No. Axl makes eye contact with him, giving a winking smile and thumbs up as a thank you. "Oh, good. We have the President here too. C'mon, everyone. Gather 'round the lady and her husband."

Heat that isn't from his fire magic rushes to his face. Heartbeat slightly faster, Frederick coughs to clear up confusion about his weird friend's statement. "Axl, we're not actually married."

"Okay. Then mind telling me this," he points out how Asuka's standing behind them with the decoy Tome open in his hands. "Why does he have a book ready as if he's gonna officiate?"

Vernon, Jack-O, and Asuka improvised their next line to follow Axl's idea. "If anyone has any objections, speak now or forever hold your peace?"

"Oh, he's got jokes now." Aria rolls her eyes before snapping at him. "Put that away!"

"Honestly, what you told me at Devil's Dance Floor a few nights ago made me think otherwise. Or was it you said you asked her to marry you and she said yeah?" Axl pokes his chin, closing one of his eyes as he pretends to think up a new way to address them. "Ah!" He snaps his fingers, smiling. "How's this? The hero and his equally heroic and badass soon-to-be wife." He shoots them a cheeky grin; Aria's blushing prompts hushed laughs from everyone else present. "I call dibs on being the best man at the reception."

"Axl!"

"Just trying to lighten the situation!" He scratches the back of his head out of habit. He's still grinning from embarrassing them. "Quick headcount, just to be sure. Run your names by me again because I'm forgetful and it'd make this easier on everyone. One: big scary samurai man."

"You may refer to me as Nagoriyuki." He took some offense to Axl's improvised title. "I'm not that scary, am I?"

"GioGio's reaction to you showing up and offering assistance says otherwise, Nago."

Unsure of what he's referencing, he raises a brow. "…GioGio?"

Rei barks before Giovanna's able to vocalize her annoyance. "Can we get back on track here!"

"Right, sorry." Axl fakes a throat clear. "Ahem. Two and three: the King of Illyria, and the pretty Service agent with a wolf that'd probably bite my hand off if I tried to pet it."

"I'd imagine you all know my name, but it's Ky."

"Giovanna and give it time. She'd probably let you get one in." Rei's ears perk up and her tail starts wagging to show she's willing to let him pet her.

"Four is the other big man in a military uniform from the country in the sky."

"Potemkin." He removes his helmet, placing a hand on his neck to alleviate the soreness. "I might not be at my full potential because of the crash…."

"Don't push yourself too far. Five is Halo Aria and her funky little dudes." He recalls their encounter at Heaven's Edge before she ran off to who knows where. "I don't mind you called me a mistake and told me I can't go back to my original world."

"My name's Jack-O, and, uh… thanks?" One of the servants that held the metal pumpkin sits atop his head. "Get down from there! He isn't a seat!"

"Wh—?" He reaches up and takes it in his hands. "You're an adorable little thing but go on back with the others." It follows the command, floating over to her. "Six and seven – erm, mind introducing yourselves as well?"

"You all know me as the Gear Maker and That Man, but my name's Asuka."

"I don't need an intro. Just call me Vernon."

"And I, Axl, make eight. Now that we're all 'ere," he resumes the flow of time. "I think we can help with that. What – uh – what happened to you, Chief?" He points out the noticeable differences in Frederick's appearance. "Your hair's shorter and your headband's missing!"

"He's human again because of that mop-top dressed like a priest," Aria flatly answers. Her comment made half of them look at Asuka. "Don't worry though. I've got an idea."

Ky's the first to respond. "And that would be? You're not about to jump back into I-No again, are you?"

"No. That's now the last-ditch option if you're all put out of commission and I'm the last one standing." She turns to face her de-powered significant other, smiling at him. "Do you like fireworks?"

"What?"

"I overheard it when you fought Ariels. You said that we're all one of many and you wanted to start over." She takes one of his hands in hers, lightly squeezing it. "Now you can."

"Under control, you say...? Why do you fight for these redundancies? You are like a god to these creatures. They're like parrots, trying to become humans. And eventually, they will mistake omnipotence for evolution. But they'll never evolve... They will just have knowledge. Imagination is infinite... but understanding, has limits. They lose sight of what it means to be 'human.' Do you really want to live a lonely life in a world that won't accept you?"

"You like fireworks?"

"...?"

"I make it a habit to be alone. Always have... That's the path I've chosen. The world I've started to like. Then all of a sudden, a whole bunch of people start to butt into my peaceful life with ideas of their own. I'm in love with this, I want to protect that, I want to rise up, I want to reclaim those, I want to redo everything... You can see how that'll get on a man's nerves. It's like watching fireworks. But you know, that's helped me realize something... That I'm not just 'one,' I'm 'one of many.' My world existed in a box of freedom that was handed to me. So, you try and change the world according to your plans, but in doing so you affect and are affected by others... How's that any different from what you're trying to do!?"

"I didn't have a plan until now and just winged it… now I see my premonition wasn't a curse. It was the gift of foresight." Aria glances at everyone around her, including Vernon and Asuka. They briefly flash blank white before reverting to normal. She brings up the synthe-graph Jack-O created, displaying it for everyone to see. "All of you were in the dream I had."

"She's right! Look!" One by one, the light dissipated to show everyone in frighteningly vivid detail, down to where they were currently standing. It changed from what she originally created; the mystery person that had a book in their chest cavity turned out to be a mis-ordered occurrence. Instead of being suspended in midair like it was originally envisioned, he's standing alongside the defiant group. "So that part about the chest book was earlier than I thought. That's pretty scary how you saw this to a nearly pinpoint level of accuracy."

Recalling how he ended that small monologue when he fought the Sanctus Maximus, he returns the smile. "This world's like one huge-ass firework."

The couple embraces for the world to see, saying the next line together. "How the hell can we miss it?"

Facing away from everyone, she sings aloud, "if you can find one thing to hold on to, the world is right beside you."

As heartwarming as it was, the hug between the future spouses – and a bit of humor from Axl – weren't enough to distract from the current dire situation. The six additional combatants stand their ground, forming a defensive barrier between the duo and the crooked deity. Giovanna and Jack-O take the middle, calling for Rei and four servants; the shackle belt's undone as it shrank and locked itself around her ankle. Axl and Ky hold their respective weapons ready for defense; the Thunderseal's unsheathed, and one of the chained sickles swings back and forth at its user's shin level. Potemkin and Nagoriyuki act as guards on the right and left, armed with black tech bullets and dual blood siphoning katanas. For additional support, Asuka assumes the role of the last line of defense for Vernon; the President primes his arm cannon, though he'd prefer the zweihander stored in his office. They stand behind Aria and Frederick, with Asuka quietly casting a healing spell on the party to treat all injuries. Watching her laugh at the formation, Ky yells, "it's all of us versus one. You can't take us all out!"

"That's adorable." I-No regains her god status, changing back to the negative and kicking up another storm. She starts ascending, floating above the ragtag unit that opposes her. "You think banding together will save the world? In case you forgot, I am the w—"

Another disembodied ghostly arm that isn't Jack-O's appears, much larger and coming out of a colorless magic circle, and lands a heavily damaging punch on the right side of I-No's face. It's hovering next to the group – Aria remains still with her back turned. The circle vanishes after a few moments pass.

The gale-force winds stop again.

"It can't be…!" Ky blinks hard twice to ensure his eyes weren't playing a trick on him. "Since when were you able to do that, J?"

Jack-O looks over and defensively puts her hands up. "I am not taking credit for that. I can tell you this much: it wasn't me!"

Axl and Gio traded looks with each other before saying the same thing. They vaguely recall who the floating limb they caught a glimpse of belongs to. "That armor…."

Potemkin and Nago shared the same idea, though the latter presumably knew her by a radically different physical appearance back during the Crusades. "Is that…?"

"No way…." Asuka and Vernon were just as baffled. The older man removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes to ensure he wasn't seeing things.

From Zepp's command center, one of Gabriel's operators yells out, "warning! Immense magical power reading detected!"
Another turns to his right, asking the one seated next to him, "I'm not the only one who saw that, yeah?"
He doesn't indicate a yes or no, managing to only emit a single word, staring at the flashing screen. "Whoa."

Watching from the Pentagon, Goldlewis breaks his team's silence. Slack-jawed and wide-eyed, he asks aloud, "what. The hell. Was that?"

Erica and Chipp exchanged side-eyed glances before the former responded while shrugging. "Not a clue," she catches a workstation's screen rapidly flashing before several more follow. One screen from the center console cracks down the middle. "But it's causing the system to go haywire."

In the Castle's war room, Leo roars out an order over the communication channel. "Can anyone locate where that surge is coming from! I'm not imagining that, am I!?"

Dizzy spots the wildly fluctuating display shared to the workstation in front of her. She compares it to the visual of how everyone else from Ky to Frederick – who redirected his sights from the person in front of him to scan his surroundings – were visibly confused. The one body that's been immobile is singled out as the answer. "…everyone. You're not going to believe this…." A brightly colored outline forms around her mother – the system's signature readers were overwhelmed by what they picked up. "But the source is Aria!"

I-No recovers from the sucker punch, readjusting her hat. "Cool party trick, Cereza. It won't do sh— wha—…!"

It reappears before she could summon either Marlene or her mic stand for an attack. The arm punches again, this time on her stomach, knocking her back a few feet. Next, it grabs her, crushing her body before throwing it aside. I-No remains unharmed, yet she's trying to figure out what's suddenly happening.

From her immediate allies to those watching from hundreds to thousands of miles away, they all see the armor adorning it is of Justice. While the circle disappears, Aria's Bad Moon form reactivates; along with regaining the black-blue forearms, the Gear mark on her forehead flares up as her blank eyes brightly glow. "Good fucking grief, I-No." She undoes her embrace, turns around while her party members step aside, and glares at the main enemy. She summons the arms again, placing them several feet above her; reptilian claws clenched into fists, ready to fight. "Will you shut the hell up already!"