NMHA Ch. 31.5 - Shooting For The Moon


A/N:

This is part 2 of Chapter 31. If you haven't read the previous one, please do, there's context there that's important for this part to make sense.

If you already have worked through the entirety of the 27k word beast, this is just the second half of that one, because, well, it's a big one and I wanted to make it easier to take everything in. Sorry for any confusion.


Her name, despoiled.

Her contributions, discarded.

Her plans, dismantled.

Her ideals, demolished.

Her gaze rose slowly to the face of the one who'd put into motion her downfall. To the end of everything, everything she'd given new life for, and the orb of nothingness at the end of the finger pointing down at her.

He looked apologetic that they'd be in this position.

She knew better.

Yet she did not feel any anger.

Not anymore.

No, all that remained was a sense of resignation, and an all-consuming regret.

If only she'd known it would end like this.

Nothing more to say.

Nothing more to hear.

Nothing more to see.

Her eyes closed, as something wet slipped from her lashes to the paved tile below.


When their eyes reopened, Masaomi and Ruval found themselves standing nearly back-to-back as the distant stars twinkled dimly down upon their forms.

What was particularly odd, was how they neither felt nor noticed themselves moving or slowing down, nor had they recognized a shift from hard concrete to a flat surface with just a little give. That, however, was beside the immediate issue.

Indeed, in the starlit distance there was a pillar of shadows, dark energy swirling around in a circle.

"...How much you want to bet that's Luna?"

Ruval just ignored him and started walking. The exorcist, seeing that he wasn't going to receive an answer, followed along a moment later.

It was a distinctly disorienting experience, walking above what looked to be an utterly lightless void, where the only sense of motion and life was from whatever outpouring was ahead of them.

Yet, despite the ferocity of which said shadows were erupting into the sky, Masaomi nor Ruval felt so much as a breeze.

Indeed, instead of winds blowing past their ears, whispers and mental images did instead.

A man and a woman, smiling kindly before their expressions turned to agony, electrical burns crawling up their body like some vile parasite. A utopia, up in flames.

"̸M̶y̴ ̷f̷a̵m̶i̶l̴y̴.̵.̵.̵ ̷m̵y̵ ̷d̶r̷e̵a̶m̵s̷.̴.̴.̴ ̷m̶y̶ ̶p̷u̸r̸p̸o̴s̸e̵.̶.̴.̵ ̵w̴h̷y̷ ̸h̷a̷s̴ ̸i̶t̵ ̸a̷l̵l̵ ̸f̶a̸l̶l̶e̷n̵ ̷t̸o̴ ̶p̸i̸e̴c̸e̷s̸ ̸a̸r̷o̷u̵n̷d̸ ̶m̴e̸?̶"̷

And unlike last time, Masaomi wasn't the only one who heard them.

"Is that what you meant before?" the Blue Phenex spoke up, crossing his arms as Masaomi caught back up.

"About the shadows talking? Yeah." The exorcist frowned, staring in the direction they were going. "They seem linked to whatever thoughts are plaguing her. That we're hearing them now means we're probably going in the right direction."

Ruval closed his eyes, tucking his chin more into his neck in thought. "Mm."

More grey flashes, this time of a house, of which Luna passed through again and again. At first, she was smiling, hopeful even. Yet as it happened, again and again, her expression when passing through was more haggard, her clothes and appearance more unkempt, until finally she was all but unrecognizable.

"̸I̷t̵'̵s̶ ̴a̵l̴w̶a̴y̷s̶ ̸t̸u̸r̶n̷e̷d̸ ̴o̸u̷t̷ ̷a̶l̸r̴i̵g̵h̵t̸ ̸b̸e̷f̵o̵r̶e̵,̶ w̸h̵e̷r̸e̷ ̷d̵i̶d̷ ̶a̵l̴l̶ ̶t̸h̶a̵t̷ ̴g̶o̵?̷"̵

"...Damn it. I should have seen this before. I should have seen how she was suffering!"

"Hey." Masaomi turned to stare at him. "None of that now. For someone as expressive as Luna, she's good at hiding them too. I can't blame you for not recognizing how bad it was. I didn't either."

The exorcist got a glare in return. "Well unlike you, I was trained to read people from a young age, honed over the course of centuries, so the fact that this all slipped by me is a grave matter indeed."

The black-haired man frowned. "Nobody's perfect."

"I find that I tend to get close at most everything I do."

"Then you'd best use this as a learning experience to get your head out of your ass."

Images. Of a girl scrabbling for money. Of a woman, struggling to reconcile her individuality and her family. Of a man who'd lost his parents because he so much as touched the wrong thing at the wrong time.

"̷I̶ ̶d̵o̵n̴'̶t̴ ̵u̵n̴d̶e̷r̸s̷t̸a̷n̴d̸.̶ ̶W̸h̶y̵ ̵i̵s̸ ̵t̸h̴i̷s̶ ̴w̴o̸r̶l̵d̷ ̶s̸o̴ ̵c̷r̴u̷e̴l̴?̸ ̷W̸h̴e̸r̸e̵ ̶d̶i̶d̸ ̴I̴ ̸g̶o̴ ̴w̷r̴o̶n̸g̶!̷?̸"̶

The Blue Phenex almost snarled, but reined himself in at the last moment. He took a sharp breath in, and out, taking a long moment where his eyes glared down at the ground, before finally speaking.

"...You are right."

"Huh?" Masaomi was taken aback. "Wait, you're agreeing with me?"

This time the blond did snarl, if only momentarily. "As distasteful as I find you, you have proven yourself capable, even if some of your... decisions, are reckless to the extreme. That I should take this as a learning experience is... warranted. She hid all this from me."

He stared out the shadows, noting how the stars were peeking through in fewer and fewer numbers the closer he looked to the pillar. Was it that they were being snuffed out, or simply blocked? "The true depths of her struggles. I should not have missed it. Nor should she have felt the need to hide."

"Luna hid it from everyone, maybe even herself. She could have just repressed it so much that even she forgot." The exorcist looked away as well, a small frown on his face.

The Blue Phenex had little to add to that, because Masaomi had said much of what was on his own mind. "Then when we bring her back to safety, we make sure she lets it all out. Without the berserk rage or... whatever this is."

He was met with a small grin from the exorcist. "I thought that was a given?"

So Ruval gave the black-haired man a snort in return, but it lacked the same bite as his prior responses along the same vein.


They almost didn't see the first attack coming.

Indeed, it scythed through the air, silent as the void, slipping between stars.

It was only his instincts that kept Masaomi from losing his head right then and there, rolling to the side to prevent that black beam from shearing his head from his neck.

Seeing how the exorcist let out a yell of alarm as he did so, that prompted Ruval to immediately set their surroundings alight, letting the blue flames give them the sight they would need to notice any more such attempts.

This proved useful, as their approach to the pillar of shadows evoked more attacks, those same shadows spearing outward without rhyme or reason before invariably homing in on either the battered Phenex or the exorcist.

That wasn't to say they escaped completely unscathed, but thanks to Ruval's quick action to Masaomi's wordless warning, the two only received minor cuts and scrapes, particularly in the latter portion of their travel, as the pillar began to block out the stars and the number of projectiles began increasing to the point of near obscenity.

Ruval was struggling to keep up. The most peculiar part was however, that Masaomi - despite being all but an enhanced human - managed to fare just as well as the Blue Phenex, with expert deflections and instinctive reflexes that delved into the supernatural.

He almost commented on whether or not Masaomi had been hiding his true skill, but what words he had died on his lips when the woman they were pursuing finally appeared through the black pillar surging upward, the barrage from on high ending at the exact same moment.

She was almost unrecognizable. Her hair was colored black by the pitch which had brought her down into this realm, her face was bone-white, ichor streaming ceaselessly from her the black pits of what should have been eyes and ears, and likely her mouth as well, had it not been sewn shut by a criss-crossing, dark red substance as though imitating stitches.

The additional wings from before were gone, as was the strip running down her back, though the choker itself remained - even if it had turned completely black.

Her attire had also changed; instead of her skirt and shirt from before, instead she wore countless strips of pitch, interconnected as to give off the impression of fetters criss-crossing her entire body. What skin showed was similarly bleached white, and she listed from side to side, swaying in place on bare feet.

"...What happened to you...?"

If she heard the words Ruval murmured, Luna gave no heed, instead lifting a hand up into the air, palm-up. From it, more spheres of black spawned, circling her arm before she let it fall almost tiredly, those orbs speeding forward with fell intent.

His brief moment of hesitation was covered as Masaomi stepped in front, blade of light whirling as he dispersed Luna's opening volley.

"I don't think talking's gonna sort this one out," he ventured, noting the silence beyond the whispers of the shadow pillar, in such droves as to sound like a sharp wind in its own right. "Not right now, anyway."

Ruval clicked his tongue dispassionately. "So what are we supposed to do? Fight her when she is in this state?"

"Well." the exorcist stared at the pale figure before them. She didn't seem like she was able to fight... yet his instincts warned him that getting close without trying to fight his way through would be a dangerous mistake.

Considering that so far said instincts had given said exorcist the ability to keep up, even under the withering barrage he and Ruval had been privy to before Luna's appearance, the black-haired man figured it would be a good idea to trust them. "...I think so, yeah. We're going to have to beat her back before we're able to try and free her from this black stuff."

"...How does that make any sense?"

Masaomi shrugged. "If she can't fight back, she won't be able to stop us from giving her the help she needs?"

He got a lifted brow in turn. "And what is that exactly? Offering her your hand like last time?"

"I mean, it worked last time, didn't it? Incoming!"

The Blue Phenex's response once again fell away as more black orbs flew at them, so caught up in their brief dialogue that both exorcist and Devil failed to notice the Worldweaver's next assault surging forth. The holy man and the demon spawn dove to separate sides as the black spheres crashed into where they had once stood, more and more forming around the once-brown-haired girl.

Indeed, more replaced the ones that launched, while Luna simply... stood there. Swaying, but ultimately unresponsive, almost like she was being puppeted by something.

The very idea gave Ruval both chills, and filled him with an anger toward whatever it was that caused her to distort so.

Yet what was more pressing was the way one of her projectiles scored a small gash across the arm of the exorcist, and he staggered, almost falling to the ground then and there as the wound leaked shadows.

"What the hell!?" he growled, dodging to the side before stumbling, forcing his blade up to block a sphere that swerved to strike him down in that moment of recovering his footing. "Is she spawning miniature black holes!?"

"What?" Ruval would have turned to stare at Masaomi again had they not been under a barrage of unknown projectiles. Indeed, he bought only a moment with a wall of fame before more punched through, shooting at him with that same concerning accuracy. "Of course not!"

That would be absurd, and the very world around them probably could not survive even a tiny one given its empty, hollow nature. Plus, that small gash would have meant Masaomi's entire body pulled into the sphere and obliterated.

Like the Power of Destruction, except even greedier in its hunger.

Yet, it hadn't.

"Then why did the gravity increase tenfold if even that one just grazed me?!" the black-haired man called back, before batting away another black orb, dodging to the side a second and bringing up a pistol to shoot a third out of the air, arm flicking from one to another to take a fourth out of commission.

Well, for one, Masaomi's focus in combat was showing, since gravity didn't work like that. Plus, he seemed to have recovered regardless, telling as his deflecting the storm directed his way was.

But he did raise a point.

Plus, there was something off-putting about the way that the gash on Masaomi's arm had been smoking, even if it had stopped by this point.

Ruval had to test it for himself.

He let one of the black orbs graze him, much like what happened with Masaomi. He didn't even have to try; the moment he let his guard down even a fraction of a moment, one sphere sped in to try and take his head off.

Considering that it was the same sort of black light that had eaten away at his flames earlier, the Blue Phenex was not going to risk having his essence absorbed any more than was necessary. It hurt, and quite a bit at that, but he could withstand it.

Yet, when it clipped Ruval's cheek, his eyes widened as a pressure slammed down on him, a force threatening to drag him to the ground.

He staggered, again like Masaomi, forcing the other to break off his slow approach to Lunarunn to cover for the Blue Phenex's slipup.

"Damn it, Ruval! Did you test it for yourself like with the pool?"

He noted how his cheek was leaking black fumes like Masaomi's arm had, and how the heavy feeling that had temporarily staggered him was already dissipating. "Rgh. I did."

"For someone who keeps calling me stubborn and crazy, you're one headstrong ass yourself!"

Yet, unlike said stubborn and crazy exorcist, his being 'headstrong' was a calculated risk.

"And much like with the pool, I think I know what that 'gravity' you speak of is."

One that the Devil believed paid off, as it had before.

"So tell me!"

He did.

"Are you...? No, you wouldn't mess around in a time like this." Masaomi shot another barrage of holy bullets to knock more orbs out of the sky while Ruval finished getting back on his feet.

Still, he had one complaint. "For real though, that's corny as hell!"

"And yet, it is the situation we face now," the Eighth King cooly replied, getting back to his feet and shaking off the torpor that nearly sent him sprawling, as though it were a familiar matter. His hand swept up, blocking the next assault with concentrated bursts of flame.

"Go figure." The exorcist gave a dull smile. "So are we supposed to just take all these orbs? Act as glorified punching bags?"

"Not at all. We fight, and we fight to win."

"While... not, killing her."

"Exactly."

"I didn't sign up to go fighting someone's inner demons."

"Yet you took part anyway."

Masaomi glanced Ruval's way, before a grin broke out on his face and he stepped forward, blade flashing out as good cheer returned. "I wouldn't be a true exorcist if I wasn't ready to fight demons for an innocent person's sake."

He raised his voice. "You hear that Luna!? You're gonna have to step it up if you really want us gone!"

Again, Lunarunn herself didn't reply. But this time, the pillar behind her did, massive arcs of ichor swinging in to skewer Masaomi, more numerous than either he or Ruval could count.

"...Thaaaaat... would definitely work as a step up, yeah."

Thankfully, where the human seemed more adept at handling single targets, Ruval's mastery of fire and wind let him act in a wide area, drawing deep from his reserves and swinging both arms and wings forward, unleashing a barrage of condensed flames and wind spheres - inspired by Luna - to meet the ichor tendrils.

Once more, blue met black, and both exploded in a great conflagration, lighting up the endless night sky with blue and white as Ruval and Masaomi charged forward, seeking to close the distance with the Worldweaver.

As Masaomi reached her first, he lashed out with a blade of holy light. There was a flash as it met a blade of ichor, fashioned from the strips adorning the once-brunette, the exorcist disengaging as spheres shrieked down into the ground where he had once stood.

His brief disengagement, however, was quickly reasserted as Ruval rushed in, once more slamming into the ichor blade. This time the attacker did not back down, instead letting his burning wings fire out more 'feathers' in all directions. The sound of explosions behind him was telling of the attack he'd stopped during his brief lock with Luna.

Masaomi sped to the side, seeking to take her flank as Ruval kept the Worldweaver occupied.

"...I'm sorry I did not see you suffering as badly as you were," he murmured, before kicking the brunette away and spinning in place, a wide arc of cutting wind lashing out from his other foot as he followed up with the initial push.

Where the arc traveled, Luna's body contorted, unnaturally flexible as it bent out of the way of both it, then Masaomi's light saber, before snapping back with a kick that sent the exorcist bouncing off the ground. He recovered remarkably well, though, grounding himself with one hand and a growl before his gun snapped up, bullets spitting out toward their target. More spheres formed, drifting up from her ichor strips to deflect the attack.

Ruval had to back away to prevent himself from getting caught in the crossfire, but in doing so he noticed more spheres racing down to strike Masaomi down and promptly shot them out of the sky.

The sheer volume of projectiles, however, was proving to be a problem of its own. Indeed, with Ruval focused on protecting Masaomi, he failed to notice before several slammed into him, from the sides and back, digging deep as the weight he felt intensified.

He had to bite his lip to prevent himself from groaning, barely able to keep himself from adopting his flame form to try and mitigate the damage, as even now he could feel the wounds siphoning away at any energy he directed toward them.

To say nothing of the weight bearing down on him, as though several trucks had been tied to his back.

Devil and Exorcist were being pushed back, that was all but given, seeing how the two were now forcing themselves to back away, space increasing between the Worldweaver and the deluge of projectiles spitting in their direction.

Of course, more tendrils came screaming from above as if to press the advantage, forcing Ruval to deflect them again with a barrage of condensed flames and bursts of wind from hands and wings. Once more, the starlit sky became bathed in black and blue, a blinding collision that allowed Masaomi to regroup, landing by his ally in this fight.

A brief glance from Ruval saw how the black-haired man was injured. The exorcist managed to keep himself from receiving crippling wounds, but his face was still wound up in a tight grimace as blood leaked out from tears in his exorcist robes.

Yet, it was Masaomi who commented on Ruval's own appearance. "You look like crap right now."

Said blond looked down, noting the blood leaking from his own body, a most unusual occurrence for a Phenex, but one happening all the same.

The Devil lifted his head to Masaomi. "You are one to talk."

"Heh. At least give me credit, I'm not sure how I'm keeping up with an Ultimate-Class Devil, much less Luna as she is now. I'm not complaining though!"

"I'm not considered Ultimate."

The Eighth King got a lifted brow. "Could have fooled me."

Ruval stared ahead, ignoring Masaomi's declaration regarding his power. The pillar remained as high as ever, and the marionette-like figure of his... fiancee(?) remained swaying in place, more and more orbs gathering around her.

"We need to commit to a plan of action," the words escaped him without warning, but Ruval knew them to be true all the same. "Masaomi, do you have scriptures at the ready?"

"Yeah, but those are pretty dangerous to Devils. I thought we weren't going to kill her?"

Ruval shook his head. "I do not mean in an offensive manner; I need you to put up a barrier to prevent those tendrils or orbs from above from interfering while I go in to stop her."

The exorcist looked at the twisting lines in the pillar of shadows that denoted the tendrils forming for another, overwhelming barrage on the part of the once-brunette they were trying to save.

"I... might be able to create a strong enough seal," he started, slowly. "But even if this stuff is weak to holy light, I'm not sure how long a barrier would last against that sort of outpouring energy."

The blond turned to Masaomi and gave him a nod. "You said it yourself; you are unsure how you are keeping up with us. Perhaps the same will apply here."

The black-haired man met Ruval's eyes and nodded back. "Alright. Then buy me a moment to get the barrier up around that pillar, and I'll keep it from causing us any more issues while you take Luna on."

Without another word, the Eighth King stepped forward.

He was immediately beset by the gathering storm before him, black blotting out the figure of the Worldweaver as countless tendrils and spheres bore down on the duo.

"By the way, Masaomi. If you believed that my performance was on par with an Ultimate-Class?"

The Eighth King's eyes slid shut. "I always could have become one if I had tried. I never did."

Inhale.

"It is time to change that."

Exhale.

Eyes snapped open, sharpened into avian slits and blazing as though ignited themselves. He released out a defiant howl before the oncoming darkness, wings spread wide as his power surged.

Air turned to fire, and curled inward on itself as black met blue once more, though this time it was no mere collision.

Shadows became wisps as the space between Ruval and Luna exploded upward as air condensed and exploded, powerful winds of the Blue Phenex's making funneling his flames from a mere conflagration into a hellfire that caused sweat to break across even Masaomi's face from the sheer heat.

Even as more spheres returned, this time Ruval was ready, those blue flames in the sky snapping out to devour the incoming storm.

"Masaomi, now!"

"Right! Incoming!"

As Masaomi rushed by Ruval, the Phenex found himself face-to-face with the eyeless, black gaze of the Worldweaver, blades around her flashing to cut him and his light down.

They were met by a blade of supercondensed flame, almost like plasma just as before, this time in a shape more similar to a zweihander than a saber, though wielded with no less skill.

Ruval pushed forward, forcing Luna to disengage from that heat lest she herself catch fire, letting the exorcist approach the pillar unaccosted.

Masaomi knelt down and pulled out a cross, driving it into the ground as he connected forehead and heart, and then shoulders before chanting, letting no doubt cross his mind as he called upon the power of the Biblical God.

He heard the sound of clashing behind him, but paid no mind.

He saw flashes of blue, and felt the heat on his back.

Ruval was not holding back.

He couldn't either.

They had to keep pushing forward.

Otherwise, they'd be crushed under all the darkness Luna was unloading upon them.

Golden pillars shot up around the spire of shadows, reaching the sky as screens of translucent brilliance shot from one to another, not just connecting to the adjacent pillars but criss-crossing to connect to every other, forming a lattice that would have penetrated and bound a physical object. What he was sealing was no physical thing, but it stilled when it met the barrier all the same.

Weight crashed down on him again, this time the effort of stabilizing the barrier containing the black rather than being impacted by the spheres, and he could almost feel the thing within squirming, writhing, battering at his concentration to escape and consume them all.

He would not yield to the black. He would stand strong before the storm, as he always had.

Once more, heat washed over his back, but Masaomi knew that it was Ruval colliding with Luna once more, as he heard burning wings flap and rush away in furious pursuit of the Worldweaver.

With the pillar and that medium of attack out of the way, Ruval was able to finally put his full focus on the woman before him, and the withering flurry he unleashed upon her was testament to his pulling out the stops.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Luna noticed how Masaomi had been sealing the pillar and was now trying to rush him down, breaking away at every opportunity to do so.

With her focus on the exorcist, the Phenex was able to score more hits against the Worldweaver, but had to put effort in to keep his friend and foe from disrupting the barrier, even now knocking a stray blade that arced outward to try and escape Ruval's reach into the ground to keep it from reaching Masaomi.

Where blue touched, her skin regained color, and black burned away. It was replaced by the pouring ichor coming from the Worldweaver, but even that seemed to be bearing a cost on the once-brunette.

The tiredness from before was gone now, replaced with a desperate shortness as she tried again and again to attack the black-haired man, only to be stymied by the Eighth King's implacable assault.

"You face me, Luna!" he shouted, curling inward to throw out a roundhouse kick, blocked by two arms but launched away all the same. "I am your foe right now, not him!"

The ichor was lessening, but it was still there. But the fact that it was lessening could only mean that their plan was working.

There was a faint thrill that flickered inside the Eighth King as the Worldweaver turned his way, throwing up a hand to send spikes of shadows running across the ground to skewer him.

Ruval flew to the side, then collided with Luna once more, dispersing her bladed defense to the side with a mighty sweep of his own weapon, before clapping a hand to her face and pushing forward.

"But please forgive me, for having to fight you."

From that hand exploded fire, bathing her in his flames, drawing a strangled noise from the Worldweaver, the first she'd made this entire time. A moment later, Ruval was sent careening to the side by a hastily-formed shadow weapon that was more club than sword..

He recovered within moments with a flex of his wings, but opted to observe rather than immediately resume his attack in order to gauge the effectiveness of his previous.

One thing he'd noted was the ichor that was no longer falling from her blackened eyes and ears, as was how the threads that had been sealing her mouth shut had burned away. Even the black that comprised her eyes and ears in this case was cracking, lines of white crossing them like cracks in a pane of glass.

The other was the faint, quiet noise escaping her, an aggrieved whine that lent more credence to what Ruval had deduced earlier.

Yet still, she attacked. She attacked, and attacked, lunging with the desperation of a crazed animal, what ichor remained on her body protecting only her modesty as the rest were turned into blades, to try and skewer him, kill Masaomi, get them away.

He wouldn't let them. Blades freed met feathers of blue flame and detonated, and any attempt to rush the exorcist was met with an implacable offensive, the azure wildfire of a Phenex who would push onward despite all efforts to contain him.

Those cracks around Luna's eyes and ears began to fragment into shards of black as Ruval scored a hammer blow across Luna's ribcage, sending her bouncing away from the force of the impact.

She didn't get back up for several seconds.

But get back up she did, swaying, but now as though disoriented, rather than puppeted.

She slumped, lifting a hand to her face.

Finally, Luna spoke.

"I'm so tired of this. So tired of losing again and again."

Her voice was still distorted: not with rage like before but with hollowness, echoing out into the empty night.

"Can... you truly not just leave me be? I just want to be alone."

"Then why did you reach out to Masaomi before?" he shot back, lowering his supercompressed blade of flame.

The hand lowered, pieces of black flaking off of her body. "Because for a second, I dared to hope."

"It is not wrong to hope for a better future."

"Then why is it that every time I do, I lose something important to me? My trust for anyone above me, my morals, my freedom, my plans... my parents. Every time I reach out... I just get slapped down."

"Not every time."

More flecks of black fell away."...No. But it's still too much. I can't keep doing this. I can't... I can't keep going on like I have been."

He could hear the same desperation from before in that empty tone, tinging it with the darkness they'd managed to fight back.

"Then don't."

A terrible shuddering took hold of Luna, as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"And give up everything I've tried to do? Everyone I've tried to protect? Everyone I've killed for their sake!?"

"You cannot protect any more people if you become a destroyer or a martyr."

"You're one to talk, sticking your neck out for me! Even when I'm the reason you two are in danger. It's hypocrisy."

"Maybe it is, even if I have no intention of dying here. But I will accept you thinking us hypocrites if it means you accept that sometimes the best thing you can do is wipe the slate clean and begin anew."

Ruval's gaze shifted over to the exorcist, who was standing now, having taken a moment to look back at them with a perplexed expression before realization crossed his face.

"Besides, whoever said you had to leave behind those people?"

"No. No. I refuse to drag Jaspal along with me. Especially after what probably awaits her. Kuroka deserves to be happy with her sister too. And the same goes for..." she trailed off, stilling and letting her arms fall back to her sides.

The nobleman understood, though.

"That is our choice. Her's to follow you, or mine to decide our time together has made me happier."

"Did I though? Did I really?"

He smiled.

"I cannot speak for anyone else, but for me? Without a doubt."


Dirtied.

Damaged.

Abused.

All these words and more ran through her head as she sat in her cell.

She could hear them even now.

Screaming at her.

Condemning her.

Cursing her hypocrisy.

A Devil is a Devil is a Devil.

Devils are evil, selfish beings.

Devils will take all the good things from your life with a smile and a lie.

They were right.

About everything.

They always had been.

She thought she was special.

That because of her origins, she was above it all.

She was a damned fool.

More voices came in, ones with actual bodies, causing the whispers running through her mind to fade to the background as one opened the door.

She got up, and went with them without protest.

It was time.


The stars above began winking out, one by one.

The trembling stopped, as the last of the black flecks fell away, revealing closed eyes.

"I'm glad."

Two words that should have been a reassurance, but as she turned to walk back toward the pillar Ruval felt a growing sense of trepidation, especially as he noted one of the stars behind where Luna was standing wink out.

Masaomi barred her path to the pillar, holding out an arm.

"...What are you doing?"

Luna sighed, opening blue eyes, staring ahead and refusing to meet either male's gaze.

Her lips curled upward. "I'm going to fix all of this. Make things right."

'What does she mean by that?'

Masaomi's expression hardened. Considering her voice still had an unnatural sound to it... "Luna, I don't like how that sounds."

"Relax. I just need to head over and close that thing off, and this will all be over. Preferably before it breaks through your seal, Masaomi."

"And what happens to you when you do?" Ruval queried, stepping closer from behind, even as his eyes turned to the holy seal that the exorcist had set up. Indeed, even now, it was almost as if it were trembling under the internal pressure. "You speak as though you plan to-"

"-stop being a black stain on your lives. Maybe literally." The way she held up one of the strips of ichor-cloth that had sloughed off her during Ruval's assault suggested she was trying to tell a joke, as did the smile that looked wholly out of place in tandem with her current attire.

"You do realize that neither of us see you as one, right?" The exorcist positioned himself between her and her apparent destination, eyes narrowing as he too noticed what little light was coming out of the sky was dimming.

The Worldweaver's smile fell away, and her gaze returned to the pillar. "Well, considering where we are now..."

"Luna, that is enough." Ruval stepped beside Masaomi. "We do not intend to leave without you, circumstances be damned. If we need to close whatever it is that pillar is being released from, then we do it together, so you can come back safe."

Her gaze shifted between Ruval and Masaomi, though still not meeting their eyes, expression softening for a moment, becoming something sad.

Yet... almost hopeful?

Then her eyes widened again as she realized how little light was left in the night sky. "No, shit! Not now, not now!"

She broke through the two without saying another word, sprinting for the pillar that was beginning to move again despite the seal that Masaomi had added to it.

"Damn! Masaomi!"

Said exorcist stared at the fracturing light lattice, and the shadows that were spewing outward like leaks from a gas tanker. "I stopped providing the barrier power. Holy seals are self-sufficient when fully set up, but if the pillar's breaking out now it must be strengthening!"

Ruval wasn't much of a cursing man, but the invective that slipped from his mouth would have had his parents cringing. He could see what she'd planned to do, even as she placed her hands on the barrier, and how those trails of shadows were wrapping around her once again. "Luna! Get back!"

She finally met their gazes again at that moment, eyes locking across the distance.

There was a flicker of something in there, but for the most part, her eyes were all too accepting of the black breaking out to embrace her again.

"I̴t̷ ̴e̸n̵d̶s̸ ̵n̷o̶w̸.̷.̴.̷ ̸o̵n̴e̶ ̸w̵a̴y̶ ̵o̷r̵ ̷a̴n̸o̷t̶h̸e̴r̷.̷ I... I'm sorry, you guys. I'll give you a way out, but... I'm sorry."

Then the pillar broke free, the few remaining stars winked out, and the darkness rushed in, the world shattering to pieces around them.


Masaomi and Ruval found themselves falling.

Eyes reopened, with no ground in sight, and the two had to wonder what exactly happened.

As Ruval grabbed Masaomi, his wings spread out, and broke their fall, coming to a stop in what looked to be an infinite void.

No light, no sound, no whispers.

Yet they could breathe, and see each other.

"We had her right in front of us," the Blue Phenex growled. "She was right there. We could have grabbed her and escaped!"

They could speak too.

"To where?" the black-haired man pointed out. "We didn't have a plan of escape, and Luna seemed more intent on keeping us 'safe' than letting us help her!"

He had a point, but still. "Ghh, we were so close."

Masaomi looked around, expression one of consternation. "Yeah. Did we screw up somewhere?"

Ruval glanced at their utter lack of surroundings as well.

"Why is there nothing here?"

"Because it was the most I could create in such a small opening of time."

Ruval spun around, coming face-to-face with the floating form of... Luna?

No, the eyes were different. Where the Worldweaver had eyes of aquamarine, this individual's were every color imaginable, and even just looking at her weighed heavily on his psyche, as though only being able to see her from a limited perspective.

Masaomi winced, as he saw the newcomer as well, but held it in fairly well. "Who are you?"

"That is a good question. I am me, nothing more, nothing less. Though my scion calls me 'Ulan'. Mostly because we share the same face."

Scion, did she mean...?

Realization must have crossed the exorcist's face, as the being before them nodded. "Yes, I am the progenitor of the power you know as Worldweave."

She waved her hand, and beneath the exorcist a platform of light flickered into existence. He tapped it gingerly with his low-hanging foot to see if it was solid, and then dropped onto it with a small huff.

Ruval himself remained suspended by his wings, glaring at Ulan as she lifted the platform so Masaomi could stand at the same level as them.

"Does that mean you're the reason Luna's powers went haywire?"

"Ruval," the black-haired man warned, but quieted when Ulan let out a small sigh, waving Masaomi's defense off.

"This is the first time I have given someone else access to my domain. And this was the first time she had called upon my power in a very direct sense." Indeed, an expression of concern passed over her face, mouth twisting into a scowl.

Ruval's eyes narrowed as he readied a blade of flame, prepared to strike in a flash.

Yet, the conceptual being didn't even flinch at the show of aggression, instead continuing unabashed. "Unfortunately, I failed to account for her... internal instability, or the bond that had formed between her Id and my blessing. That direct bond meant that once she lost control that power would become even more unstable, becoming what you have dealt with so far."

"So it was your fault," Masaomi hedged, more inquisitive than accusatory, but the message remained the same.

Ulan nodded. "If you wish to blame me, then I will not begrudge you for it, though I believe it a more pressing matter to save Luna before she loses herself entirely."

That put things into more perspective. "Loses herself? How?" Ruval pressed, hand clenching his weapon as his pupils began to narrow.

"I would explain in detail, but there is little time. I was able to buy a moment to speak with you two. but my ability to lend assistance is limited beyond that. Listen close and listen well; haste is of the essence."

Masaomi and Ruval exchanged glances, before they both nodded her way, the latter voicing his affirmation. "Then speak."

"Lunarunn is afflicted by a corrupted version of my bond," Ulan explained. "The bond is based on intent, and thanks to her Id is influenced by her emotion."

"Then I take it this began when she saw her parents die."

A nod. "A catalyst for a meltdown at a scope even I was not prepared for. Somehow she even commandeered our bond and slammed it nearly shut between us. But she cannot handle my full strength, not yet. As it stands, that same power is destroying her."

The exorcist stepped forward. "Then we need to suppress that power somehow?"

"Yes. Incidentally, you two have already been doing exactly what you need to."

"Then why speak with us?"

"Because this stage is the most delicate. One misstep, and her soul will be either consumed or rent from this world."

'...What?' Both exorcist and Devil could hardly believe their ears.

Yet, the fact did still remain;didn't something similar happen to the original?

But that meant that time truly was of the essence, so the Phenex showed no signs of hesitation.

A moment of realization later, neither did Masaomi.

That Luna's soul was at stake meant that their fight was all the more important to see to the end.

A head of black hair bowed, taking a breath. "What do we need to do?"


Ruval and Masaomi's eyes opened again, and Ulan was gone. This time, however, they were not falling but rather sinking into the abyss. Masaomi could propel himself to some small degree by acting as though swimming, but that would not be enough for what was to come.

Thankfully, Ulan had helped with that, guiding Ruval to make a magical circle that would allow Masaomi

How she was able to convert a Devil's circle to channel holy energy, he had no idea. But the most baffling thing was, it worked.

("All things have an equal and opposite. Devil power and holy power are two sides of the same coin, so it was easy to adjust the circle to accept holy energy instead. It will not hold up for very long, perhaps a few minutes of continued use before it shatters considering your expended reserves, but it should last long enough to make a difference. I simply wish I could help more.")

Considering how even now, in the endless dark, they could see a speck in the distance, of someone else descending into the darkness, Ruval was inclined to believe that Ulan truly was helping as much as she - it, he corrected himself - could.

He spread his wings, pushing himself forward, down, to approach.

Despite their sinking as though submerged their actual motions were completely unimpeded, though both could feel a growing sense of foreboding, as though walking the edge of a storm.

"Ruval."

The Phenex glanced down at his breast pocket, where a faint golden glow emanated. "I know. We've little time to waste, so let us begin."

His eyes met Masaomi's, and they both nodded, the circle on the latter's back flaring to life as white trickled from his body to the circle, which in turn created outlines of wings.

They operated just as well as full-fledged ones though, as evidenced by Masaomi shooting downward, a blur of white with fading outlines as he plunged down after their friend. Ruval followed him, giving a little distance as to let Masaomi take the brunt of the first wave.

He was immediately beset by shadows, shapeless abominations appearing out of the aether to lunge for the exorcist and the Devil. The numbers were staggering, and had Masaomi a moment to inspect the horde, rushing upward to challenge them both, he might have realized the shadows weren't quite as shapeless as one might first think.

Ruval recognized them though. The faces were far too familiar for him to not.

Thankfully, the copies didn't appear to bear the same scope as the owners of their faces, even if the abilities they brought to bear looked similar.

He'd much rather not have to face Sirzechs's Power of Destruction, nor the brute might behind an ogrelike face, nor the strings of the so-called 'Mad Puppeteer' that had escaped after killing a Leraje heir.

Least of all flames that were a dark mirror of his own.

It chilled him that his face was among those shadows.

Had Ruval misunderstood her all this time?

He grit his teeth, and decided the shapes did not matter, preferring to save his focus on the fight ahead of them. They were the enemy all the same, and were met with mighty blasts of flame and rapid bursts of light from the Phenex and exorcist respectively. Blue and white met black, and then separated as shades poured into their reality to stop them from reaching the bottom.

They ducked, they wove, they fired, and they pushed forward. The shadows, though numerous, were not strong enough to stop the two, especially once Ruval himself lead the charge.

All those shades simply meant a target-rich environment, and the flames released by the Blue Phenex as he and Masaomi raced downward took to the shades almost gleefully.

The distorted screams, however, as the shades burned weren't quite as well-taken, with Ruval grimacing at the cacophony and Masaomi needing a brief moment to regather himself.

Those were familiar. Hadn't they heard something similar right as they were entering the warehouse district?

Though his expression was fierce and almost pained, the shrieks did nothing to slow Ruval down, instead his fires blazing even brighter, great blue constellations tearing into the evil things that would keep him from the woman he meant to rescue, peppered with white as Masaomi provided support fire.

It was not long before the speck in the distance grew to recognizable proportions.

This time, she bore no markings, skin unmarred and clothes once again the ones she'd been wearing back in the warehouse, sans the choker and wings. Yet, what was more concerning was the pained grimace and jerky movements, and the way ethereal, shadowy chains were connected to her through a pulsating red and black collar.

She didn't seem to see them yet, nor hear them, judging by the way she was pulling at the chains, as though trying to break free of them on her own.

Even looking at it, he was distinctly reminded of the kind of collars prisoners would typically wear in the world he knew.

And if she was being dragged down by those chains, then...

"Masaomi!" He called. "Take care of those chains; I'll cover you!"

White flashed by him as Ruval and Masaomi tagged each other out, blue flames expanding around the Phenex as he struck down any wailing shade that got too close.

He paid no mind to how the ambient light itself was turning blue from the sheer volume of his fire, nor the way sweat poured down his back from all the attacks he channeled throughout these fights.

All that mattered was making sure Luna was safe now. He could recover later.

Masaomi's face was pulled into a grimace as he matched his descent to Luna's, eyes trailing to the shadowy chains attached to the collar around her. The caterwauls of burning shades and the shouts of an angry Ultimate-class Devil sounded out, and once more he could feel the heat at his back.

The sheer wrongness he felt from those chains would have knocked Masaomi off his feet were he not on wings, to say nothing of the growing sense of doom the longer they were sinking into this abyss. Even now, he was growing increasingly fatigued, sweat running down his body to mix with blood.

That being said, he took a long moment to close his eyes, tune out Ruval and the shades he was holding back, and listen. The chains whispered, whispered those distorted words that seemed to echo the state of mind his friend was in.

'̴I̷ ̷t̷h̷o̸u̴g̴h̶t̸ ̸I̴ ̵w̸a̴s̴ ̴s̷p̸e̷c̴i̷a̶l̷.̸ ̵I̴ ̶t̷h̸o̷u̵g̶h̴t̵ ̴I̷ ̷c̵o̵u̴l̷d̵ ̷m̷a̴k̸e̶ ̷a̴ ̴d̴i̸f̴f̵e̴r̶e̵n̷c̷e̷.̸ ̶B̵u̵t̵ ̵a̷l̷l̵ ̶I̶'̴v̵e̵ ̴d̵o̵n̴e̵ ̵i̶s̴ ̵m̵a̸k̶e̷ ̵m̶or̶e̶ ̵b̷o̶d̷i̶e̸s̸.̸'̶

̶'̴W̶h̵a̴t̵ ̵m̴a̸k̴e̷s̶ ̷m̸e̷ ̷b̸e̴t̸t̶e̷r̸ ̶t̸h̶a̵n̶ ̵t̷h̷e̴ ̵o̵n̵e̶s̷ ̷I̷ ̴t̶r̸a̷m̶p̴l̶e̵d̵ ̸o̸v̸e̵r̶?̶ ̷N̶o̴t̷h̷i̷n̸g̷.̸ ̷I̵.̴.̶.̷ ̷I̷ ̶s̸e̸e̴ ̶t̸h̵a̵t̵ ̴n̶o̸w̸.̸'̸

̶'̶I̷ ̴s̶h̸o̸u̸l̶d̷ ̷h̵a̴v̵e̵ ̵j̷u̶s̶t̶ ̷a̵c̸c̵e̷p̴t̶e̴d̵ ̷m̴y̴ ̴p̸l̷a̴c̴e̴.̴ ̸A̶c̵c̶e̵p̶t̴e̷d̷ ̸m̸y̸ ̵l̸o̶t̷.̸'̷

̵'̶W̵h̶e̴n̵ ̸y̸o̴u̵ ̵s̵e̸e̸ ̷a̷ ̶m̵o̷n̴s̵t̸e̴r̶ ̷i̸n̸ ̶t̷h̵e̵ ̷m̴i̸r̸r̶o̷r̴,̶ ̶s̶h̷o̴u̴l̸d̸n̶'̵t̷ ̶a̵n̶y̴ ̵g̵o̸o̵d̸ ̴p̴e̸r̷s̷o̵n̵ ̷t̵r̷y̸ ̴a̵n̴d̸ ̸k̸i̷l̵l̵ ̴i̶t̸?̴'̶

The black-haired exorcist's eyes widened, before readying his light saber to try and cut into one of the chains.

It not only failed to cleave through, but a blast of shadows caused him to topple back, cursing under his breath as the outline of wings began to dim behind him.

Luna flinched, letting out a silent yell of pain as her body tensed up, as though being electrocuted, before sagging in place. Yet, she started moving again all the same, once again returning to her meager attempts to escape those chains.

She hadn't even recognized his presence, eyes failing to so much as flick up to him.

As though she didn't even realize he was there.

That wasn't good. Ulan had warned them that it wouldn't be as simple as cutting her loose, but Masaomi hadn't realized that the chains themselves would be the main problem.

They were running out of time. Even now, that sense of foreboding was continuing to grow, and even a battle-hardened warrior like Masaomi could feel a deep-seeded fear begin taking root deep inside.

It was close, and they were being worn down.

How he knew, he did not know. But he knew that if it took Luna, especially as she was now...

No. That couldn't happen. If it did, then...

Masaomi pushed the panic out of his mind, forcing himself to focus on the things he could address. The chains. The shades. The unnatural fear that was growing inside of him.

He could work on the first, and fight the second. As for the third...

Well. Courage was not a lack of fear, but the willingness to act despite that fear.

Masaomi had been willing to jump into the abyss to try and save Luna.

That it was close meant that it was all the more imperative to act, and to do so decisively.

"Ruval! My blade can't slice her binds!"

"What?!" The Phenex in question swore, slicing another shade in two with his flame zweihander. "Masaomi, we don't have time for this!"

"I know that!" he shouted back, seeing how the shades were becoming more numerous. "Shit... Ruval! Switch!"

He sped back up, said blade a flash as he cleaved across a number of shades, stowing his gun to focus on fending off the horde directly.

The blond, on the other hand, growled and dove back down, head to head with Luna as her journey continued unimpeded. Even he could hear the shadows whispering.

Yet, she stared right through him, her arms around her collar as she struggled to escape, struggled to break free despite the futility.

He tried to cut one of the tendril-chains around Luna's neck with his Zweihander, but it too let out a retaliatory burst, sending him reeling back from the impact.

What hurt more was the way Luna stiffened and squeezed her eyes closed again, another soundless scream escaping her, clearly experiencing some level of feedback from the chains dragging her down

He caused that.

He hurt her.

Ruval recovered with a beat of his wings, gritting his teeth as he shook off the shadows that had tried clinging to him, but it was clear that traditional methods wouldn't free Luna.

...How had he not seen it before?

But enough was enough.

He would save her.

His hand dug into his pocket, where he'd placed the pendant he'd given Luna years ago.

Yet before he could pull it out...

T̸̤̿͌͑̇͛H̷̼͈̳̬̰͆̍͑̊M̸̹͎̭͇̩͛͌M̴̥͐̿́͠M̷͈͔̬͍̫̎͗̊͝M̷͔͕͋M̸̘̥̗͚̦̿͗̏

The sound was almost like a bass roll, deep, heavy, and with a reverberation to shake bones.

While they continued to sink, everything else simply stopped.

Silence reigned.

For a moment, Masaomi and Ruval were sure their hearts had stopped too.

Then, in the great distance, the shadows split, parting to reveal...

Malice.

Hatred.

Cruelty.

Madness.

All these things and more poured from that unsealed eye, a vast scarlet and yellow, reptilian orb that bore down, stripping them bare with the merest glance, yet the intensity of which it glared down at them left Masaomi and Ruval both gasping for breath.

Ruval had met Zekram before, whose aura commanded respect and obedience, the byproduct of his age, his influence, and his might.

Even Ulan was a formidable presence in her own right, something that a regular individual would not be able to fully understand, and even he and Masaomi weren't able to fully comprehend the weight of her existence. Not even close.

This thing, however... it didn't care to hide its presence. Even now, Ruval could feel the pressure of the thing before them threatening to overwhelm him, despite being so far away.

It wanted them dead.

It wanted all things dead.

Ruval could see it now, images flashing through his head. Of civilizations ruined, of a world barren and empty, the pleading gazes of those he loved vanishing behind flesh and sinew, their blood splattering onto his face from the force of the impact, to break him in mind and soul as well as body...

Were they staring into the eye of death itself?

He forced his gaze over to Masaomi, whose face had grown slackened and ashen as he stared back at that evil eye.

"Snap out of it!" He flew over to the exorcist and hit him upside the head with a hand.

Masaomi didn't grow any less ashen-faced, but he was able to recover his senses. That did not, however, mean that there wasn't a tremor in his voice.

"That's... that's it?" he gasped, forcing his gaze back on Luna. "That's the thing that's the source of her meltdown?"

Ruval grit his teeth. "I'd go so far as to say it's probably done a lot more than cause Luna to become like this."

"We can't fight that thing," the exorcist warned, that edge of terror creeping into his voice to give it a desperate tinge. "It'll kill us. It'll kill us and there's nothing we'd be able to do about it."

"I'm no fool, Masaomi. I can feel the pressure from that monster just as keenly as you. Thankfully, we don't have to."

Masaomi turned to him. "What?"

"We just need to free Luna. Whatever it is, it's probably not particularly mobile. Why drag Luna down by those tendrils otherwise? If we can cut Luna loose, we can retreat. Seems like she's still fighting too, even if she can't see us right now."

Ruval gripped the pendant, feeling the way it warmed his skin with the intensity of its glow.

"But if this thing is the embodiment of death-" a guess that Ruval could easily believe as the eye grew larger, and larger, and larger, that lone gaze towering over and above them now. At least now they were someone used to its presence, they were prepared and thus able to keep their composure now. "-or something of the sort, then we need to figure out how to cut Luna loose before she's pulled into its maw or grasp."

Even if he was struggling to hold back that primal fear, Masaomi was able to swallow, hard, but nod his agreement. "I-I heard whispers from the tendrils connecting to her collar."

"Like before." The blond's face contorted into something distasteful. "I'm guessing they're linked to her mental state too."

Masaomi glanced over to his Phenex ally. "Time to go with Ulan's plan?"

Ruval drew the glowing pendant from his pocket now, nodding his agreement to Masaomi's suggestion. "Now or never."

Immediately, the eye focused in on the glowing pendant in the Phenex's hand, and the black world spun into motion once more. Shades flew out of the darkness in great waves to try and block them, to snuff out the light.

"That's as much a sign as any!" The exorcist yelped, bringing out a talisman and bringing it to bear against the torrent of shadows.

"Then cover me while I deal with those chains!" Without waiting for a confirmation, Ruval dove down, brightly glowing pendant shining brighter and brighter as it grew in proximity to Luna.

It's focus continued to bear down on him, on the pendant that dared disturb its domain, shadows flooding downward to intercept, though were blocked bodily by Masaomi, blade flashing.

Even from Ruval's place, though, he could tell from the grunts and shouts that Masaomi was flagging. He had to let out a burst of superheated air as several shades slammed into his back, those that slipped by Masaomi, both to jettison the corrupted Phenex flame comprising his body and to disperse the shades. It did, however, leave him gasping for breath.

He hesitated, an unpleasant feeling bubbling up, one he had seldom felt before.

A feeling he'd hid from Masaomi, out of virtue for not showing weakness in front of a human, and an exorcist at that, but something he felt all the same.

Fear.

He was scared?

Of what?

Of losing his fiancee?

Of losing Luna?

Of losing the image of the person he wanted to be?

Or… was it something else?

Maybe he was scared to die?

Indeed, even he was slowing down. All those attacks, all those injuries, were taking their toll on even the famously tenacious Phenex. Though his fire was still blue and his winds still strong, they were certainly in less quantities than when he'd first started fighting the possessed Worldweaver.

He was running out of energy.

He was tired.

More tired than he'd ever remembered himself being.

Whether that was physical or something else he wasn't sure.

Still, the fact remained.

Ruval was tired.

He wanted to lie down.

He wanted to rest.

But she wasn't safe yet.

Ruval swallowed.

What if… what if she was like this because of him?

"You're certainly part of the problem. You saw your face in that horde of shades, after all. Don't bother denying it."

Had he truly been so mistaken about her this whole time?

Even now, she was fighting.

Yet even now, she was suffering.

How much of that was his fault?

How much of that was because he didn't understand her?

("I. Refuse. To let you you be eaten alive.")

The memory flashed through his mind. He may have not realized just how deeply Luna was struggling, but now that he had a better idea, his words remained true.

They were in this together. They both had so much to lose and so much to gain, even now.

...He didn't want to die.

It was a strange thought to have, especially since he didn't put much thought into it before.

He hadn't thought about it at all, even. He was a Phenex. He was one of the Ten Kings. He was on top of the world.

He'd been all but invincible. So nothing had mattered to him.

But now?

He saw struggle. He saw strife. He saw hope, and the will to keep fighting.

She showed him that.

Had he put her on a pedestal without realizing?

It was hard to imagine Luna, of all people, giving in to her emotions.

Like he had, he was coming to realize.

But here she was, suffering. Suffering that he was complicit in causing, because he hadn't understood her before.

Maybe he still didn't.

He wanted to change that.

Maybe that's… what she would need, too.

Ruval's gaze turned to the shining pendant in his hand.

Did she leave behind the pendant, and what it represented, because she wanted to try and kill her past?

Or was it because she wanted, deep down, to find her way back to the light?

He wondered.

'I said it before, time and again, and I will as many times as I need to.'

Ruval's face, briefly slackened with his thoughts turned inward, firmed as his eyes sharpened.

If that was what it took, he'd do it.

'I'm here to save you, to see you safe, and I will see that decision through to the very end!'

The light grew blinding, as Ruval pressed it to one of the tendrils.

Once more he was thrown back, but this time it wasn't so much an offensive sort of push as it was an outpouring of energy from where the chain met the pendant.

Once he was able to see again, he noticed Luna a small ways away, though she seemed to be shaking her head, motions a bit more emphatic, a bit more purposeful.

His eyes turned to the pendant, and blinked when he realized it wasn't just a pendant anymore.

Instead, what Ruval was holding was the shaft to a spear, simple in design but elaborate in material, almost made entirely of the same crystal he'd used for the pendant itself, the pendant shape enlarged at the end of the shaft to a bladed point and edge, gleaming brilliantly even within the darkness and catching every stray light to refract within its base.

It seemed so fragile, as to shatter with but a touch.

Ruval knew better.

"...What happened?" Masaomi asked, almost disbelievingly, as he drifted by, the magical circle powering his wings fractured and looking as though it was ready to come apart.

The blond smiled. "A realization."

The burst of light had dispelled the shades attacking them briefly, but now even more came flooding in, numbers to dwarf the volume assailing them as before, Ruval held no fear.

The red eye gazed down at them, malevolent and oppressive as ever, yet now something was different in that gaze.

Wariness, perhaps?

Good.

Ruval swallowed.

'I will make this right.'

"Masaomi."

"Yeah?"

"I... I'm going in."

The black-haired man stared out, making a face. "...I'm at my limit."

Ruval inclined his head down, ever so slightly.

"I am close as well."

"If we keep going, I'm not sure we'll survive."

Again, a reminder that he could die here.

He didn't want to die.

"So be it."

"...Are you really that willing to lay down your life?"

He didn't want to.

He wanted to continue to try and reach that ideal.

"If that is what it takes."

"Why?"

The Phenex glanced back to Masaomi. The exorcist stared back resolutely, clearly ready to do the same, but the curiosity in his voice was not to be ignored.

He smiled. "Because she taught me how to live again."

The almost contradictory statement was punctuated by a gleaming of light from the spear, Ruval sweeping it in a wide arc with a bellow against the cacophony of screeching shades.

He'd intended to create fire, blue and incendiary.

So he did not expect his flame to be a pure white, both in heat and in precision as the great wave produced by his swing made contact with the waves of shades. Much like the fire before, anything touched disintegrated in a horrific wail.

Yet now, those flames criss-crossed among the shades, leaving trails of white as they burned through the horde like a great wildfire, targeting anything of the darkness. The flames even went so far as to appear like they were jumping to other shades if need be, rather than burning out once one's most immediate fuel was expended.

Masaomi looked almost fish-eyed as he gazed upon the attack that Ruval had unleashed. "...Holy shit."

Ruval was inclined to agree with that stunned exclamation.

"That should hold them off for a moment, move!"

The exorcist followed, but did so jerkily, only moving his conjured wings enough to move in a given direction. It was the most he could do at this point, loathe though he was to acknowledge it, to follow along and ready his weapon once more.

Ruval, on the other hand, moved with purpose, meaning, and decisiveness. His wings were natural, so he did not have to rely on channeling his power to use them, rather being a natural conduit instead. So his descent to Luna was a swift one, and as he got close again something was different.

Her eyes shifted to him.

She didn't immediately recognize him.

But those eyes saw him, or at least part of him.

"Who… who…?" Her voice was tinny and distant, as though speaking through horrid interference, but understandable all the same. Her eyes widened. "...Masaomi? Ruval? Is… is that one of you?"

The eye above them gleamed, and Ruval noticed shadows, in the face distance, shifting.

That wasn't good, especially if that was a mouth like Ruval feared it was.

His eyes turned back to the tendrils, one noticeably missing from Luna's collar.

That must have been from the pendant-now-spear.

Maybe the same would go for the others?

The blond nodded his head. "It's me."

She didn't hear him, but judging from the motion of her eyes and the way she started shaking, the brunette caught his nod. "Why… Why are you still here? You aren't supposed to be here! I gave you both a way out, you should have left me!"

The thought nearly elicited a snarl from the Eighth King.

"As if I would be such a coward."

Ruval lifted it up to drive into the next shadowy chain, meeting resistance as white and black intertwined in a clash that nearly threw him back again. Luna's back arched as she let out another yowl of pain.

"Grrrrrrhhhhhaaaaaaahhhh! Hh- Damn it! Get out of here! Save your own skin; I'll get out of this myself!"

A lie. The Phenex could tell even with all the tinniness to her voice. Her previous efforts had been doing nothing, and she knew it.

This time, his pressure against the chain merely intensified in response to the backlash, having readied himself for the retaliatory darkness from those tendrils pouring out against him.

The guilt she felt for surviving. He could feel it.

She hadn't been ready to kill. And she herself admitted that turning her marks into the Underworld was all but doing it herself.

So what made her special? What made her more worthy of life than the Strays she condemned to death?

Nothing.

But life wasn't fair, and it had decided that Luna would come out on top in those encounters.

She didn't have to like it. The fact that she didn't like how unfair life is was admirable to Ruval.

It showed how much she cared.

Perhaps a little too much.

Had he thought about it in that way before?

He… wasn't sure he had. But it was true, he realized.

Even so, the Phenex would be damned if he didn't try and protect that heart. There were too few people in the world like her.

He hoped that one day he'd be able to think of himself in that same light.

What made her different from the rest of the Strays?

Nothing, to the world. But to him? Everything.

With a burst of light, Ruval was thrown away again, the sound of a chain snapping echoing throughout the void, followed by a growl from... somewhere. That thing?

She was looking directly at them now, though her voice was still distorted with tinniness. It had, however, lessened with the breaking of the second chain.

"Wait… you're both still here?! Why?! I don't need your help! Just go!"

Yet, even if Luna's descent had slowed still, the shadows in Luna's path continued to part, as though she were being dragged into a great maw, and that they were all nearly in its confines.

The eye was still visible, however, glaring down at them with an unblinking gaze.

...Perhaps it was representative of the attention the being they were approaching was giving them, rather than an actual manifestation.

"Ruval! I can't hold out any longer! Hurry!" Masaomi shouted out, before letting out a cry of alarm as he got knocked to the side by a particularly vengeful shade, wings and circle shattering behind him, though he was ignored in favor of rushing for Ruval with clear vicious intent, as did the torrent following it.

And now it was Luna who saw it happen too, redoubling her efforts to break those chains. Indeed, one was even starting to look a little thinner than the rest, but the pained expression on the Worldweaver's face and the low groan from the effort she was putting into ripping one of the chains off showed how much it was draining her to do just that.

The Phenex released a burst of flames, using the momentum to chase after Luna once more, but the shadows continued to pour in, chasing him down even to the motionless form of the Worldweaver.

There was no more time.

They had to break those chains now.

Spear clashed with tendril-chain once more, erupting into a storm of black and white as Ruval let out a wordless roar, throwing his spirit into this blow, up against the remaining chains, with Luna shrieking as well, tensing up once more.

His body screamed at him as black exploded against his back, scorching the firebird with a blackened taint, an essence that he had become all too familiar with, forcing him to eject flames at a desperate pace.

To stem the tide and save Luna, before his body and his fire gave out.

He couldn't hold out under the pressure for long.

But he wouldn't turn his back on her.

He couldn't.

Not anymore.

Not even as the brunette shouted at him, begged him to save himself, to leave her, to let go of the tendrils binding her.

Did she deserve no better than the Strays? Perhaps not.

But they were all sinners anyway. Nobody was clean; everyone's hands had someone else's blood on them.

Nobody was perfect.

And that was okay.

KSH!

Another wave of force pushed him away. He dove back in without hesitation.

But that did not mean she should have accepted the status quo. Ruval knew vaguely before that the Underworld was not a clean place, even before they met. Its aristocracy thrived on conflict, but that meant that for every winner, there were several losers.

He had failed to realize how horrible it was for those losers.

No. He'd decided to ignore it.

The fact that Luna sought to change the world, even if she failed to, had opened his own eyes to the inequalities. So if she couldn't do it, then he'd have to continue her legacy of making things not just stable, but right.

He'd always wanted to be the quintessential noble. To live by the tenets of nobility.

He realized now that he'd missed the point before.

Or perhaps he hadn't been willing to take that most important step.

It wasn't about simply looking the part.

It was about going out of one's way to act the part, too.

To be that sort of noble, even when it cost him.

Especially when it did.

The fact that Luna didn't accept the way of the world, and tried to forge her own, even when she herself suffered for it, that inspired Ruval. For that, he would seek to do the same.

Just like he always knew he had to.

She'd stopped pleading for him to go, perhaps realizing that the blond had no intention of leaving.

"Ruval… why?" Her eyes met his, uncomprehending as he continued to bear the brunt of the shadows.

"Because…" he breathed out. "Because I want to live up to the Noblesse Oblige. Because it's… the right thing to do."

KSH!

His roar had by this point become strained, somewhere between defiance and pain as the black and the white filled his vision, hope and anguish warring before, around, and inside.

A monster was a creature that butchered, terrorized, and sought nothing but its own gain, its own pleasure.

He didn't see a monster before him, he did not see a beast who gleefully killed for its own gain.

He saw a young woman, suffering, struggling, desperate to make a mark on the world, and hating herself for what she had been driven to do to try and make that mark.

Monsters were cruel, and didn't let their atrocities so much as break their step.

Luna wanted to make things right.

What she did was cruel, that he could agree.

But the fact that it weighed so heavily on her, that meant something, didn't it?

"Luna… Gh-! Let me in. Let me help you."

"...Ruval… I can't."

KSH!

"...Please… Gh! Kuh!"

Something barreled up his throat, and Ruval hacked out blood, partially blackened from the corruption seeping inside of him even as his hand found its way around the next chain.

He paid the blood no heed.

Someone called out in alarm.

He discarded recognition.

His vision was growing dim.

He pushed on all the same.

Even though it wouldn't be enough.

Even as he could feel his body failing him, as the shadow of death loomed over him, Ruval held on.

She helped him realize what he had been missing.

He refused to let her gift go to waste.

Even if it meant giving it all up.

Ruval held his palm out, extending it to Luna like Masaomi had before.

She'd almost taken the Exorcist's back then.

She had dared to hope.

So he would do the same for her now.

To believe.

It was the right thing to do.

"Take… Take my hand! Let me in!" he pleaded, a plaintive tone entering his voice for perhaps the first time he could truly remember as she stared at the offending limb, emotions warring across her expression as the last chain continued to hold under the assault.

For a single, horrible second, Ruval feared that she wouldn't.

That he wouldn't have been enough.

That he would have failed.

But then…

Then something flickered in those aquamarines.

Something she had been missing for a long time.

Perhaps even the thing that had first drawn his eye to her in the first place.

He felt digits slip between his fingers, and a palm pressed against his.

He heard something. Something filled with doubt. Fear. Sorrow. But all the same, filled with something that had managed to win over the rest.

"...Okay… I… I will."

And with that, the final chain finally gave.

KSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!

Finally, the last, resounding snap, that echoed through the void as white mixed with black, washed it out, and began expanding outward.

The world stopped.

The eye winked out.

The shades disintegrated.

And Ruval let his eyes drift shut, letting the light overtake him.

Yet still, he didn't let go.


"...-va..."

He was so tired.

More tired than he'd ever remembered being.

"R-v-l...!"

Someone was shouting at him. But who?

He just wanted to sleep.

"W- up...!

...

Well.

He supposed he could at least humor whoever it was.

Then maybe he could rest again.

...

Or perhaps…

...Maybe.

Just maybe.

Maybe he might decide to try waking up.

He was tired.

But perhaps he wouldn't be, once he opened his eyes.


"Ruval!" His eyes slowly adjusted to the form of the exorcist hovering over him, battered and bleeding, a deep exhaustion clinging to his frame, but upright and shaking the Blue Phenex fiercely. "C'mon, wake up you crazy son of a bitch!"

He distantly realized that his back felt wet, as did his face. Had it started raining? When had they gotten outside?

"I... take offense to that, on my mother's behalf," he groaned, lifting a hand to wet brown locks.

'Wait.'

He didn't have brown hair.

Ruval's gaze drifted down, noting how the gently breathing form of Luna had her head to her chest, and the hand he'd lifted to her hair. She was undoubtedly unconscious, as the rest of her body was in something of a heap, but...

Had he unconsciously curled around her as though to shield her from harm?

Her hand was still in his, too.

...It felt... nice, he decided.

A small joy in the exhausted, soaked, pain-filled reality that was his world at that moment.

"Did we...?" he trailed off, hacking out a wad of black ichor to the side, where it dissolved into wisps, then nothingness.

Masaomi glanced back at the warehouse.

"Yeah. We all ended up back out here, right where we'd entered the premises. Not sure how. I just woke up a minute ago."

"And... Luna?"

His eyes glanced down to her, and the pendant resting next to her head.

She looked... normal.

No, wait.

There were tears gently trickling down her cheeks. Real ones this time, not the ichor that had stained her face when they'd faced off.

"Unconscious, but here." Masaomi let out a cough, spitting a wad of blood to the side before letting out a chuckle. "I dunno what you did, but you managed to get us all out with that suicidal charge of yours."

"It wasn't... suicidal."

"Then what was that mad rush to break the rest of her chains to that thing?"

He rose to a sitting position, holding a wince as he felt his back all but scream at him, a testament to the corruptive energies he'd withstood upon breaking those last chains.

He also heard a sharp hiss from Masaomi, an intake of breath that likely indicated shock.

Had those left a lasting impact on him? Scarred his back?

Given the exorcist's reaction, they may well have.

For a moment, he worried about what that might mean for him going forward.

But then, he realized that perhaps even any scarring was for the best.

So he wouldn't forget what he'd realized today.

"...Resolution."

"You did say you'd do whatever it took."

Ruval let out another cough and a small chuckle. "...I did."

"Think you can move? I'd offer to carry you given your back, but I'm barely keeping myself upright." Yep, a cursory glance to his trembling legs indicated that Masaomi was indeed barely able to stand.

Ruval tested himself, gently keeping Luna's head in his arms as he shakily rose to his feet.

The fatigue threatened to send him crashing back down to the ground.

But somehow, he persevered, even lifting the unconscious body of Luna in his arms.

"Then… think you could grab my phone?" he asked, almost sheepishly. "I... might collapse if I do anything more than carry her right now."

"I know we went through a near-death experience together, maybe literally, but I am not frisking you."

"Smartass." Ruval coughed, shaking his head. Normally he wasn't one for such words, but considering the circumstances he felt it warranted. "Left pocket. Call Pierre."

Masaomi staggered over, and reached in without another word, pulling out Ruval's phone and going through the contact list before raising it to his ear.

"...Hey, it's Masaomi. The exorcist Ruval brought along. Ruval lent me his phone. We're-" he coughed again. "We're gonna need a lift."


The thing in the dark raged.

It hissed.

It howled.

It roared.

It had been so close.

So close to her.

But that wretched light had taken her away!

How many times must it be denied!?

No matter.

It had already touched her.

That would have to be enough.

So it would wait.

It would wait like it always had.

It would wait for her to meet it again.

It would wait, for all things would meet it eventually.


A/N:

If anyone is curious what Luna's additional 'wings' look like in the first and third phases, look up the Valstrax from Monster Hunter and you'll get a good idea how they sort of work.

And from here on out things start looking a little more up for Luna. But in a world where complacency can get someone not already ingrained in the realm of the greats killed, I'd go so far to say that Luna got lucky she herself didn't lose her life.

That being said, there will be repercussions for her meltdown, but those are for another chapter because holy fuck I loaded this one full.

Sorry it took so long. I kinda dropped the ball, and life's been... complicated.

Work was being slow to actually get me working, so that was extremely vexing. Thankfully, it has come to an end, and I have already gotten started. Been the case for a few weeks actually.

Also school is a thing, and I may have written a good bit of this while procrastinating on homework. Whoops.

To those of you who've managed to make it through these twin beasts of both a wait and a chapter, thank you so much for holding out, and like I mentioned back up top I hope it was worth the wait!

The next chapter should be out very soon. It's already going through the same refining that this one did, so same day next week is the likely time.

In any case, Tempura Wizard out.