The Meanderer

by xeveningx

"The world is beautiful and pure, it's the weeds in it that ruin it." And to save the world she loves, Noé will do what she must: find her friends to free her master. But as she learns what saving it implies, discourse stirs in her. Is it really worth saving anymore? "It's not the world that's worth saving," a red cub told her. It's hard to understand his words.

29. The Last Stand

Chapter Twenty-Nine:

The Last Stand

---

|ii.|

This was pure havoc incarnate and it engulfed the entirety of the capital in its insanity.

Below them, Remano was being laid siege to by the amalgams. All the while a terrible existence, one not even she had borne witness in all her years to, was threatening to be born to terrorize anew. And above them was the one who orchestrated it all under a watchful eye and with a dangerous hand guiding her.

This is madness.

"On your left!"

Emerald eyes narrowed at hearing Andromalius's warning. Luckily, it was enough to alert her in time to move out of the way of a fireball that had been sent her way while still carrying the little magi in her arms. Swiftly, Rakah answered the aggression with lightning bolts of his own. Noé stood back, her grip tightening around Titus's lithe body as her ears could clearly hear how his breathing was turning shorter and more ragged by the minute.

This wouldn't work for much longer. Rakah might be stronger as a magician and holder of a Gift, but he couldn't very well fight someone as powerful as Seraphina while also trying to protect them. Noé couldn't join him either. She wouldn't leave Titus injured as he was when there was nowhere safe nor anybody to care for him.

Summoning a protective barrier was the least she could do with her hands occupied as a set of icicles and water spears descended upon them.

"You can't go on like this!"

"I know!"

"Noé onee-san!"

That young voice took her aback and had Noé turning before she knew it to look down below at the one who had called out to her. The tiny specks of gray and red were barely visible from where she was, but even from that height, Noé distinguished Marga and Titus's Heliophatian friend, Sphintus, from the rushing crowd.

Perfect!

"Rakah—"

"Get on with it already!" he barked back while summoning a row of lightning that blinded most all.

Protected by her shield, Noé dove down onto Remano's beaten streets, landing a few feet ahead of Sphintus and Marga as the two rushed against the strong current of people running opposite of them. Spreading her wings around them gave them enough space to convene as she gently passed Titus onto Sphintus's arms and addressed the both of them.

"Find a Fanalis or Yambala or even the blue-flamed djinn bearer. Tell them I sent you and get yourselves out of here. And please, get him medical help."

"Consider it done," Sphintus promptly said despite the obvious fear that made his eyes tremble.

Marga's eyes grew with concern as she held tightly onto Sphintus's robes. "W-What about you, onee-san?"

"You worry about yourselves. We'll deal with the fighting—"

"...no…"

All eyes turned down to Titus who stirred in Sphintus's arms to be put down. Despite her and the young magician's protesting, Titus reached out his hand towards Noé who took it without a second thought between her own.

Cold, was her first and only thought. He's so damn cold.

"…I won't…leave you or Muu…"

"You're too weak, Titus." Noé grimaced, unable to say what his cold hands were already hinting at. He's far weaker than I thought. He could die. "That thing took too much magoi from you."

"B-But…Seraphina—" he strained to say, his pale complexion making his overexertion all the more obvious.

"Is something we will deal with," she retorted and held his hand tightly in her own. As if that would somehow give him the warmth he so desperately needed. "So please, little bird, let me do what I know your mother would have. Let me protect you."

His baby blue eyes widened the slightest bit before the strength he had mustered to even reach out to her vanished. His hand now limp in her own, Noé brought it close to her lips before praying to whatever gods there were out there to let him make it through this ordeal. Placing his hand back by Sphintus's side, Noé turned to him alone.

"Get him and Marga out of this city," she reiterated. "And don't stop no matter what you see."

Noé didn't wait for his answer and instead flapped her golden wings once before shooting back into the air and reaching Rakah just in the nick of time to strike back at an attack that would have met its target had she not deviated it. Floating now back to back had Rakah's amethyst gaze glaring back at her over his shoulder.

"Took you damn long enough!"

"Quit complaining," she shot back before her eyes turned to Seraphina as she readied another attack, a much bigger one than before. Noé clicked her tongue as she readied herself for it. "And gather yourself. That one looks like it's gonna hurt."

—{ii}—

This is way bigger than I thought.

The egg was almost consuming the entirety of the temple now. Even if it had seemed smaller from on high, it hadn't been this disparate in size. It must've grown in the short time it took to reach it. Not only that, but something was already protruding from a crack on the thing.

How's that even possible? he thought. Titus isn't connected to it anymore.

"The commotion," Barbatos said with a sudden understanding. "It's created a plethora of rukh to aggregate in a single place. It's feeding off people's panic."

Damn it.

If what Barbatos said was true, then even without Titus, this thing would continue to grow no matter what now with all the chaos that was ensuing in the city. But all that meant was that Muu needed to get rid of it all the quicker.

Baring his large canines in his full Fanalis form, Muu bit onto the protruding appendage with all his might but even as he felt them tear through, he couldn't tear it apart from the whole. Tearing what he could before jumping back, his crimson eyes glared at the appendage that he could now recognize for what it was, a wing, as its cyan blood seeped into the ground. His eyes widened in shock at the two things that simultaneously happened before him then.

The first he noticed was how the bright cyan blood that fell onto the ground ate away at the life it touched. The second and much more disquieting fact was that the wing was regenerating…and quickly. Grimacing, Muu transformed back into his human body, taking a deep breath to stabilize himself, before taking Barbatos's Metal Vessel in his hand and djinn-equipping him.

The sudden whiplash that struck him out of the blue brought him to his knee as a sudden pain wracked his body. It was unlike any he'd felt before. This kind of pain seemed to be trying to rip him apart from the inside. It was leaving him breathless by the second but Barbatos's swift interference neglecting whatever was causing it, brought him enough leeway to at least catch his breath.

"What...was that…?"

"The rebound."

Rebound?

"From the incompatibility between my magic and that thing you allowed to settle in you," Barbatos explained with obvious disdain. "The rukh that seal calls upon clashes against the magic embedded in the Metal Vessel. It's causing a clash within you. I can nullify it but at the cost of your magoi."

That didn't sound good at all.

"How much less time does that give me?"

"Let's just say that you might as well fire your Extreme Magic while you can still breathe, boy." Despite the bad news on that end, Barbatos still had the heart to chuckle. "The bright side is that you can at least replenish your magoi faster now because of it too."

I'll take what I can get then.

Instantly holding his lance at the ready, Muu aimed his Metal Vessel at the partially hatched egg as yet another crack formed upon its shell. A grimace curled his lip at the sight of it before unleashing his Extreme Magic and piercing through the egg. Muu halted himself midflight to turn to face it. As he did so, his djinn-equip fell from the exhaustion of his magoi and as he landed not far from it, he looked up only to groan. From the opening he made, parasites were pouring out like blood from an open wound. The black blobs fell onto the ground unceremoniously but as they rotated from their backs, Muu noticed they began to change form. It wasn't until they swarmed him that he recognized they had taken the forms of larger-than-average rats.

They were endless. Tearing apart one seemed only to summon three more from the opening. Some were already getting past him. The instant he realized this, Muu could do nothing else except act on instinct. And his instinct told him to use the one source of bottomless magoi regardless of the consequences. The surge of power from the seal overwhelmed him for the briefest of moments with how suffocating it was to contain so much of it inside himself. It was but a mere second but certainly felt longer; regardless, it was over the instant Muu unleashed it, sending shockwaves of Light magic outward. Parasites in his close vicinity were swiftly destroyed by the sudden pulse of power, their bodies disintegrating into nothingness almost instantly, and the same thing happened to those it caught up to a few feet away.

What he didn't suspect was how the egg reacted the second that same shockwave hit it. Muu stopped dead in his tracks after sensing the sudden change in the atmosphere around him. The air became heavier around his body and even more so anytime he breathed it in. The hair on his neck stood on end, sensing something wrong. His own instincts now were telling him to flee, but he couldn't force himself to look away, much less leave. Not when at that distance he could see what the surge of magoi he'd sent out using his little piece of Grace of Sunlight had caused on the egg.

The initial opening he'd seen was cracking further. The first crack led to another and then another until the whole opening was surrounded by cyan cracks that could no longer contain the monster within. It appeared as a blackbird bursting out of its black shell, cyan remnants and black liquid spilling from its wings as they spread out behind it. It then let out a mighty cry that resonated throughout the whole city.

Muu covered his ears as the cry rang so painfully in them and staggered him to a knee. Through the pain, he forced an eye to open and could only watch as the gigantic bird took a languid flight into the air with a few flaps of its wings. Unable to stop it as he currently was, Muu was forced to watch as it took flight, the remnants that had been falling from before now taking a life of their own as more parasites.

This isn't good.

Crimson eyes followed the line from where the parasites were falling only for his brow to furrow at finding something strange about the bird. A wound, and a rather large one. It pierced its chest by the looks of it and was shining a bright cyan color, pulsing in time with the beating of its wings.

It's a—

His racing mind couldn't think fast enough when a hoard of parasites raced towards him at unimaginable speed. Before Muu had time to react, Noé and Rakah landed with a flourish of attacks, light spears and lightning strikes spiraling together and piercing through the black parasites before they could attack anybody beyond the perimeter they'd landed on.

"Good job, mutt," was the first thing that Rakah spat out with a click of his tongue as he gazed upward toward the slow-moving blackbird. "You helped unleash it all the faster."

"That wound," Noé pointed out, glancing down to meet Muu's eyes, "Did you cause it?"

Muu nodded, lips pursed. "I thought Barbatos's Extreme Magic would be enough. I didn't think it'd be this resilient. I'm sorry I couldn't keep it from hatching."

"You can mope about it later." Rakah's amethyst eyes turned away from the bird to meet each of theirs in turn. "It's spilling parasites out. We need to kill it before it gets far enough to infect the people that evacuated. Luckily enough, your useless attempts weren't all in vain. A hole that big is an easy target for a well-placed arrow." He squarely turned to Noé. "Think you can hit it?"

The screech of rats made the three turn to give each other their backs as they continued striking down the parasites that fell from the blackbird. Behind him, Noé stared upward, assessing said target.

"I'll need some time to gather magoi," she countered but snarled at the parasites that charged at them alongside icicles from above, piercing them with a few arrows and blocking them with a shield before snapping back once more. "Can you fucking keep her busy for a damn minute!?"

Muu only glanced down at the magician beside him. One he still couldn't believe he was giving his back to after everything that happened. Yet Noé was having no problem doing so. And if she needed them to work together to finish this demonic thing off, then so be it. Grabbing his Metal Vessel, he tapped the blunt side of the blade against Rakah's arm to call his attention.

"We'll manage."

Rakah apparently understood everything crystal clear, looking over his shoulder to assure her with a firm nod. "We'll keep her busy. You shoot that pigeon out of the sky."

There was a short moment of her emerald eyes glancing at each in turn before nodding and shooting off into the sky after the blackbird. Now left alone, Muu gave his back fully to Rakah.

"Don't make me regret trusting you on this," he growled, the facets of his body threatening to turn into his Fanalis form.

Behind him, Rakah scoffed, unimpressed. "Relax, lion man. I'm on your side this time. Besides, I'm not about to blunder the trust she's put in me a second time around. Now heads up, we've got a witchling incoming."

Muu didn't need to turn to feel the icy chill of Seraphina's presence behind him.

-{ii}-

"Your aim is going to have to be better than it's ever been, Noé."

No need to tell me.

Despite what Rakah was boasting about, that thing was not a wide-open hole. Compared to the damn bird that was easily the length of three whole colosseums, that part of broken-in skin was nothing more than a speck when looking from beneath it. Finding perch on a high enough building, Noé took a knee as she nocked back an arrow on her stringless golden bow.

"Aim."

Taking a deep breath, her emerald eyes caught sight of the hole Muu had made in its chest, lining the tip of her light arrow along it as it moved.

"Focus."

Noé took a deep rattling breath and held it. The arrow in her hand grew in size as the eight-pointed star of her Extreme Magic shone brightly beneath her.

"Fire."

The arrow released with her exhale and flew through the sky, hitting its target right through the opening. Glee came to her but was short-lived when she saw that the blackbird only staggered a bit before continuing on its slow-moving course.

"D-Damned thing! How are you still in flight after that!?"

But it was, and at a closer look, she could finally tell why.

What Muu had pierced through had only been its outer shell. That thing still had something else protecting what she could now see as its cyan-colored heart as it pulsated through the slight opening her attack had made. But even that didn't last long. That thing was consuming magoi to regenerate the hole she'd created.

"It's regenerating too fast."

No, she quickly interjected, noticing that even though it was bad news, its slow rate told them something. Not fast enough.

There was either not enough magoi for it to regenerate or it couldn't do it at a quick enough pace to compensate for the damage done. Which meant that consecutive attacks of the exact same magnitude might be able to penetrate through its defenses and pierce the beating heart she saw underneath it all.

Flying over to the other two, Noé quickly conveyed this to them which had Rakah bickering first thing.

"You just love making our work harder, don't you?" With a grunt at the last word, he summoned strikes of lightning from the dark clouds above just when Seraphina threatened to close the gap between them.

"Quit your bitching and think, would you?!" she snapped back, having had enough of his attitude and snark.

Rakah clicked his tongue and gave himself a short time to do so before saying, "I might be able to keep it in place long enough for you to shoot it down twice."

"But what about Sera—"

"Leave her to me." Both turned at Muu's bold statement as concern etched on her brow and confusion on Rakah's. There must've been something that gave her disquietude away as he simply smiled. "I won't engage with her, I promise. I'll just keep her occupied long enough for you two to do what you've got to do."

Rakah only left him with a swift 'great, thanks!' before flying off. Noé, however, lingered for a moment, her eyes never leaving him, but able to see what he was meaning to say without so much as a word. 'I've got this', he seemed to say, 'finish it and come back.'

Nodding to that unvoiced petition, Noé followed Rakah into the sky where he had stopped below the blackbird where it was likely to pass through given its slow trajectory. Before she could ask what he had in mind, Rakah brandished out his hand with his wand, which was no longer than his forearm, now grown to three times the size to form a proper staff.

Is there a difference between wands and staves? she asked the only one who could likely answer her question. Andromalius gave a small pensive hum as Noé watched Rakah ready whatever he was planning in silence.

"All they are is conduits," Andromalius said, "Staves have been the superior forms since the times of King Solomon as they best represent the divine staves the lord magicians would use."

It made sense, she supposed. It had been Teosa's staff that she and Shuri had used to help her cast the one and only spell she ever performed in her entire life.

And it made even more sense that he would need to use a staff for the kind of magic he wanted to harness. Noé would be lying if she said that the sight of her friends' seals didn't make the feathers behind her ear bristle instinctively. Blooming Waves, Peaceful Darkness, and Rondo of Whirlwind appearing by his side, though, was something she hadn't expected. Much less for this to be what he had in mind for stopping the gigantic chicken in the sky. But as the last of the seals appeared, his own in Rumble of Thunder, Andromalius gently reminded her that this was not the time nor place for animosity. Regardless of whether it was justified or not.

I know, she said, although not quite trusting herself to understand it. But I still can't just ignore it.

"If you have something to say, say it." Her emerald eyes turned upward to the back of Rakah's head as a fierce wind broke out, the humidity and electric charge in it whirling around them as the very source of those types of magic themselves were made manifest before her. "Or swallow it and quit staring a hole in the back of my head with that glare. It's distracting."

"It's not the time, Noé," Andromalius reminded her.

No, it wasn't, but when had she ever been the type of person to keep her mouth shut.

"I still don't understand why the hell you're fighting with us." It hadn't been exactly what she wanted to ask but it was a start.

His shoulders stiffened visibly, and Noé caught this as his head turned a bit over his shoulder. "I suppose remorse is the only word we would understand it as. Remorse for thinking that I knew what was best and not realizing I didn't until it was all over."

There was a tinge of something in his voice as it somewhat cracked at the end of his last sentence. Something akin to pain lacing them even through the ruckus of the wind.

"Back then I thought I could make things right—she convinced me that I could—but I realized thanks to someone opening my eyes that no matter what, I won't ever find a future trying to repair the past."

Noé's eyes narrowed at that. At how such simple words could make him suddenly turn his heel on Ira as he did. Despite how much she wanted to deny him the turn, though, she found she couldn't. Not when she could hear that pain in his voice as he spoke.

Not willing to give him the credit, Noé said, "Give my regards to whoever told you that. They're a clever one for knocking some sense into you."

Ahead of her, Rakah chuckled all the while nodding his head. "I hate to say I agree. Especially because they're such a brat themselves."

He cut the conversation short as he brandished his staff outward and in doing so cast a spell that forced Noé to cover her face to shield herself from the blinding light that emanated from the seals. Through her fingers, she watched as from each seal a leash akin to chains emerged and rushed out towards the blackbird as its shadow came over them at last. Tendrils of water, wind, darkness, and lightning latched onto the blackbird's wings and talons, piercing its black flesh before solidifying into thicker chains. The blackbird cried out from the sudden attack, but at having it in its grasp, Rakah set out the ends of the chains in different directions, pulling them taut and exposing the blackbird for her in midair.

"Pick up your jaw from the ground. You've got a job to do."

Turning back down towards Rakah, her eyes narrowed at the strain that was so visible on him. All four of the seals being active were causing a rebound so strong against his body that Noé could see the electricity jerking his muscles, the wind that was shredding his skin and tearing it open from the inside out, the bit of water that spilled from his mouth and nose, and the way his eyes were beginning to darken over. Despite what he said, what truly impressed her was that he could somehow manage to show off a cocky half-smirk over his shoulder.

"That is unless you can't shoot it down even while I hold it still, you senile pigeon."

This cheeky bastard.

Smirking haughtily back at him, Noé bared her teeth back as she retorted. "You're going to eat your words, you little shit."

There was no thinking twice after that. Noé instantly flew off to fly several feet above Rakah while still remaining under the blackbird. Its cawing was deafening, distorted from the way it cried out and struggled to be freed, but Noé ignored the painful screeching that pierced her ears as she brandished her bow out in one hand while the other held two light arrows from their nocks. Bending one away as she held it with her ring finger and pinky, she nocked the first arrow and pulled the string of her bow taut as the eight-pointed star of her Extreme Magic appeared beneath her.

"Hit it twice, Noé. Once it's exposed by the first Extreme Magic, it'll be a clear target for the second. That should destroy it."

"No," she retorted. "I'm not leaving this to any 'what-ifs'. I'm hitting it with both at the same time."

The hitch of Andromalius' incredulous breath was louder than the bird's screeching. Noé could understand the shock too. She had been planning on exposing its heart with one and then hitting it head-on with another, but its ability to regenerate had left her questioning herself. If she was too slow, if she misstepped or even counted wrong by a millisecond, that thing would be able to regenerate the black flesh keeping its heart safe before she could pierce it. If that happened now, Rakah wouldn't be able to hold it back a second time. His body wouldn't allow for that. And at the rate she was pushing her body, neither would hers.

No, this needed to be done in perfect synchronization. Shooting both arrows in as quick succession as possible to minimize the risk of failure.

It's our best shot, Chief.

Noé fully expected to be reprimanded for what she wanted to attempt, but there was no hesitation in Andromalius when she answered, "It'll be one hell of a precise shot, but if anybody can do it, it's you."

Precisely.

With a deep breath, she focused, and a second ring appeared on the outer part of the Extreme Magic eight-pointed star beneath her. Noé gave herself no chance to hesitate. She released the first arrow but didn't stop to see whether the shot struck true. Instead, she flashed from beneath it and reappeared above, all the while nocking the second arrow and taking a second deeper breath. This time as the arrow grew to its greater form as she aimed downward, the sun flickered above her, turning the already dark clouds black for that split second.

From beneath the blackbird, rays of colored light flew around it and found their way onto the tip of her growing arrow. Swirls of their colors joined with the golden orange of hers and it was then that Noé sensed their power and knew where they came from.

It was magic from the seals, all those belonging to Rakah, a bit of his own Sound magic, and Fire magic. That last one, though, she could tell didn't come from him. And with there being only one person wielding a fire djinn, it wasn't hard to make a guess. With all seven of them together, Noé couldn't help the slight grin that split her lips.

To think this is how we'd reunite, my friends.

Noé couldn't have thought of a better way.

The wait for the first arrow to travel felt eternal, but once she saw the light from beneath the blackbird intensify, Noé made her choice, and with the colorful tip of her arrow swirling as she held the string tautly—

Noé took her shot.

The sun flickered out as the arrow flew, the only array of colors visible being the ones of her arrow as it pierced through the black and white sky and into the blackbird milliseconds after the first arrow pierced through, exposing its heart.

Its screeching this time was unbearable even for her, forcing her to clasp her hands over her ears, but it was not long-lasting. Its cries died out as it spiraled downward out of control, the chains that had it pinned down having vanished once her arrow struck. Heart sinking, Noé was about to create a dome around the city to keep it from destroying it in its crash, but before she could, another did. A borg appeared from out of the blue to protect the city and allowed the blackbird to crash onto a mostly vacant area of midtown instead.

"Who—"

"Titus!"

It doesn't take her long to spot the young magi as they stood with Sphintus' help, one arm around their shoulders and the other holding his mother's staff high to summon the borg. Noé had to admit that she was equally as livid as she was relieved to see him protecting the city as his mother would have.

Just as she was about to descend to him, though, a loud yelp echoed through the air seconds before Andromalius called out her name in é couldn't even turn towards the sudden shift in the atmosphere behind her before the hit struck her down into the borg with such force that it broke it. Crashing to the ground, a groan escaped her as she opened her eyes only to find someone else there, struggling painfully after that fall.

"Y-You…" Rakah didn't have the strength to respond. Not after what he did that she just realized from seeing the way his abdomen was bleeding profusely. "You idiot! Why did you save—?"

"Don't…finish that sentence," he said through ragged breaths as he held onto his side. He groaned as he pressed his hand further only for his fingers to squelch against the blood. "I don't want to hear it."

Incredible. How the hell he had the strength to joke around with that kind of wound was beyond her, but it had her hurrying to his side all the same. Rakah didn't allow her to inspect him. Instead, he feebly pushed her off and shook his head as he forced himself to his feet.

"But your wound—"

The crackle of ice forming at his hand stopped her mid-sentence. With one last ragged breath, Rakah let ice form around his gaping wound, stopping the bleeding and numbing the pain somewhat but not entirely if his expression was anything to go by.

"She—Seraphina…" he groaned. "It looked like she was heading for the blackbird."

Noé had the mind to not ask why. Her instinct told her that the reason didn't matter. If Seraphina was heading to it, it couldn't be for any good reason. That alone had her reaching for Rakah and shouldering some of his weight as the light around them refracted.

"Hold on," was all the warning she gave him before she flashed both of them out.

The direction of where that monster crashed in after it bounced off of Titus' borg was something hard to pinpoint, but Noé was at least able to get a vague sense of it from the dust that had yet to settle down. Both reappeared in the midst of that cloud, their coughs mild and quiet as they stepped out and into the clearing that the blackbird's landing had made. All kinds of buildings lay either half destroyed or fully demolished, from homes to vendor stands to temples, the livelihoods of many gone in the blink of an eye.

"It could've been worse," Andromalius bitterly reminded her.

Yes, it could very well have been. If not for Titus, its fall would've caused much more harm than this. Still, all this destruction could have been avoided entirely had they…had she not been so blinded to the monstrosity that had laid hidden among them this whole time.

They found Seraphina wailing in frustration at the feet of the barely born Zydros Zaibas bird, because now, after having shot it down, Noé recognized it for what it was: nothing more than a barely conscious fledgling. It was gigantic even so, and if its innate abilities were anything to go by, then it was a miracle they brought it down now that they could. The thought of that thing having had the time to fully grow, to fully form a conscious mind, sent a cold shiver down her spine.

"N-Noé." Her emerald eyes turned to the side just in time to see the flickering light as it vanished after Muu's sudden appearance. It was hard to ignore the bright shine of the seal on his chest, but she forced herself not to in order to focus on the wounds all over his body.

Seraphina did a number on him. Cuts and bruises littered his skin. Blood marred his lip and brow brightly along with other wounds that pierced his body at places like one of his legs and shoulders. If nothing else, he was certainly worse for wear, and that little girl did that to him.

"The yelp must've been him," Andromalius surmised.

Grimacing, Noé let Rakah lean on her so she could reach out to touch the back of Muu's hand as he approached them. To his credit, Muu did his best to not let whatever pain he was feeling show through and instead offered a small smile. Just as she was about to do the same, Seraphina's outraged cry stunned them and forced their attention on her. All three watched her from a safe distance as she stood knee-deep in the remnants of Zydros Zaibas, rage warping her angelic features into something unrecognizable.

"You imbeciles!" Her voice was guttural as black flesh slipped through her fingers. "You ruined it! You've ruined it all!" Emphasizing her last word, she hurled the putrid flesh onto the ground.

"It's over, Seraphina," Muu spoke, talking for all of them as the three stood by in tatters but alive. "Whatever this is, whatever you intended to do, it's over. There's nothing else you can do."

The little priestess froze in place, shocked at his words, as her lip curled in distaste for his words. The disdain was short-lived, though, as instead, a blank expression came over her features. All of a sudden, she returned to looking like a beautiful statue. One marred in crimson blood and tarr-like flesh. There was something in the midst of this silence that Noé didn't like. The feathers behind her ears bristled, steeling over at the dread that climbed up her back and into them.

Something's not right.

And apparently, it wasn't only her who noticed it.

"S-Stop." Her gaze fell on the wounded magician she carried after hearing him whisper, almost thinking she'd misheard, but quickly corrected when he harnessed whatever strength he still had to yell out into the open. "Stop her!"

Noé hadn't the slightest clue what had him so apprehensive out of nowhere. At least, not until after she turned to face the priestess again and saw her rising from the dark tarr after bending down. Not until she saw with her own eyes the cyan heart of Zydros Zaibas held in her hands…

The damn thing still beating as she brought it up to her mouth.

"Noé, watch out!"

No warning was quick enough. Not Rakah's, not Andromalius'.

One second the heart was touching her lips and the next, Noé sensed Andromalius manipulating the power of the Grace of Sunlight as she had before. But instead of using it to keep her from flashing away, Andromalius summoned what power she could from it to bring forth a shield around them strong enough to withstand the shockwave that followed. Yet not even that was strong enough to keep them safe.

The light shield only provided them enough to face the initial brunt. The only thing that got in between the aftershock and her and Rakah was Muu's Fanalis body getting in the way to take the force of it. All three slammed against the nearest pile of rubble, whatever walls were left standing falling in their wake.

…

"Noé!"

…

"Wake up, Noé!"

A loud pounding sounded off in her head as Noé opened her eyes. Everything was blurry at first, her vision and hearing returning after a second with the latter accompanied by a loud buzzing. Had she lost consciousness for that brief second? Was the impact that strong?

"Answer me, child!"

"I-I'm…I'm up," she grumbled in response and slowly rose from her back to sit up.

The rubble around her shuffled as she moved, rocks spilling off to the side and bringing her eyes over to the sudden movement. Beside her, Rakah was barely holding on to consciousness. Muu had yet to regain his, but after the hit he took for them, it wasn't a surprise.

Suddenly, a change in the atmosphere around them caught her attention. It was quick but the change was so drastic that Noé acted before Andromalius even got a chance to warn her against it. Donning her djinn-equip she'd lost after losing consciousness herself, Noé vaulted over Muu and Rakah and brought forth both of her golden wings to shield them from the attack that pierced through the air. The ice cracked against her light wings, the chunk shattering into sharp pieces that spread outward like spikes and embedded themselves onto the ground unprotected by her shield. What was worse were the patches of black that the spikes left beneath the earth they struck.

What in the devil…

"Noé."

Andromalius' tone dropped so low that it made her pause. It was chilling. It was the warning of a leader to their flock. A warning to stay clear, to run. To save themselves while they still could.

"I can comprehend why your people cowered before Zydros Žaibas now."

Noé's breath hitched at the sound of Seraphina's voice, her breath creating a cloud of white before her as the temperatures dropped around them. Mist rolled out from further in, from where the dying carcass of the blackbird fledgling had been, and it sent a different kind of chill down her spine. The kind of frostiness that was spreading across the ground was covering it over with a slick layer of ice. The air hurt to breathe in and Noé had to consciously keep her teeth from chattering from how badly it was affecting her. Even the sweat rolling down her brow fell victim, freezing as it came into contact with the iciness.

A step resounded from within the mist. The echo of the footstep had her feathers bristling to steel, but the moment they did, Noé grimaced in pain from how the cold bit at her sensitive feathers.

"This kind of power is truly otherworldly."

Another step, and with this one, Seraphina stepped out from within the mist.

If she had been beautiful before, then the only way to describe her now would be ethereal.

The shadows appeared to have enveloped her somehow for they were now slowly receding away from her skin as she made her way forward. With every step, every movement, the black sheen peeled away like the shedding of a second skin. Her face was visible before anything else, pale as ever and what had been beautiful seafoam green eyes were now that bright cyan blue with the whites of her eyes turning as black as night. Her long platinum hair was free and cascaded down her shoulders as a headpiece of pure ice settled on her head, a crown for an ice princess.

Receding further, the shadows fell only to her bosom and flowed outward from there, hugging her body and becoming an inky black chiton. Medallions of ice held the black satin to her shoulders while a deep cut in front gave a full view of her pale chest where a faint crack split her skin down the middle. Armlets and bracelets attached the sleeves to her arms and wrists. A corset belt of a transparent blue held the dark fabric close and let it flourish outward until it touched the ground, its ends breaking into the black mist that had been surrounding them this whole time.

Noé had never seen one more beautiful. None except her meistras held a light to what she now was.

That alone terrified her to her core.

"Noé."

'Run.' Both her instinct and Andromalius' tone were telling her to leave. To save herself before whatever this abomination was unleashed itself upon everything. But she refused to move. Muu and Rakah were still unconscious behind her. Many more were still evacuating as well.

I can't let them be hurt.

Lifting a pale, practically white hand, Seraphina splayed her fingers against her exposed chest with a smile.

"It is a true pity you have decided to stand against us, Noé," Seraphina said, her voice sultry and calm. "My master has never led me astray. Even with the blackbird fledgling downed, she knew what to do. She told me how to overcome my miscalculation. And now, because of her, I will be able to attain my wish."

She blinked. Noé swore that was all she did. But that action alone was enough for Seraphina to suddenly appear before her.

The cold emanating from her body was cold enough to punch the air out of her lungs without even a touch. Something only made worse when she leaned over to whisper in Noé's ear, her breath white and gelid as it touched her steeled feathers and the shell of her ear, freezing the flesh it touched.

"My rightful piece of unconditional love."

Reacting as quickly as humanly possible wasn't fast enough, yet that was all Noé could do. Her wings appeared in front of her and spread outward in a split second, hardening into sharpened blades and forcing them apart. Her gut told her that even when Seraphina jumped back it hadn't been because of her attack. But to hell with the 'why'. So long as she stepped the fuck back, Noé couldn't care less.

Stepping back as well, Noé inhaled before creating a shield once more when sensing the sudden movement of the cold air as it rose. The icicles that formed clashed against her light shield with a few piercing it until one broke through.

Frustration won her over and she clicked her tongue. Noé kicked off, not wanting to give any more leeway for Seraphina to take over, and charged at her with a pair of daggers in her hands. Mimicking her weapons with ice, Seraphina parried the ambush and the attack after it with ease. That alone was irritating and dreadful enough.

"Faster. Duck. To your left. There, an open—Noé!"

Noé rounded to kick at Seraphina with one of her talons instead of shooting at the opening Andromalius saw. The priestess leaped back to avoid it with ease, shards of ice falling from the mist of her gown and piercing her bicep and shoulder. Her olive skin darkened from the ice, but before it could eat away at it, Noé vanquished it with the use of Grace of Sunlight.

Noé's breath turned labored, the tiredness from fighting for so long finally starting to hit. Andromalius tsked this time, her frustration louder than anything else around them. At a distance, Seraphina smirked, surely noticing what her djinn did as well.

"Mister Rakah was right," she said sweetly. "Your bleeding heart will be the death of you."

"Noé, enough! You can't hesitate. Not now."

I know.

But she couldn't.

"There's still time to stop this, Seraphina." Her voice was low but calm. It mirrored her tone, but instead of that cold calm, hers was more tender. Warm. "This needn't end with anybody dead."

"That is where you're wrong," she corrected her. "You must die, and it will be me who does the job."

Noé grimaced. Then… "...why?"

Seraphina's smile disappeared, but while Noé expected that expressionless face that made her appear almost doll-like, what darkened her beautiful features instead was nothing but unbridled intense rage.

"I am owed what the world never deemed me worthy of."

What she's owed?

'And now, because of her, I will be able to attain my wish. My rightful piece of unconditional love."

Noé paused as the pieces fell into place in her mind and realization dawned on her. Suddenly, she could see through it all clearly. Beneath the terrifying magician, beneath the amalgam that had formed from her absorption of Zydros Zaibas' heart, Noé could see the little girl she rescued that day. She could see her trembling hands, her furious, teary-eyed glare, and her quivering lip.

Out of fear.

Out of impotence.

Out of powerlessness.

Her heart pained her at the sudden realization. Finally, she understood why she had always felt so drawn to the little girl she had met all those years ago.

"...you're like me…"

A little girl hurt by a world that refused to spare her even a modicum of affection. A lack that forced her to protect herself, to learn to care only for herself, and to never again allow anybody else in. Keeping them at arm's length was safest; it was where they would be useful but never again be close enough to be able to harm her. That self-isolation bore envy, that envy bore hatred, and that hatred set ablaze a rage that burned a hole in her heart.

A wound that would never close and would only continue to fester if left unattended until it finally consumed her whole.

At least, that's what would've happened…

Noé's head turned slightly to the side as if wanting to glance back at the two she was protecting. Admittedly, were it not for Muu and the others, that wound of hers would have continued to fester and surely would have led her to give herself up like Seraphina did.

They had both been standing upon the same cliff; Seraphina blindly took the leap while she turned around. And that such a thing happened to a little girl who everybody left to the wayside broke her heart.

"My child," Noé whispered, her voice cracking as tears brimmed in her eyes at the tragedy she had only now opened her eyes to. "Forgive me that I couldn't see it. That I was so blind to your pain. I'm sorry, Sera."

The cyan-blue eyes watching her suddenly narrowed, confused at her words. Seraphina's brow furrowed, her lips quivering unable to form any words to answer a statement that took her by surprise. But just as a sound escaped her lips—something Noé thought had sounded like Sera calling her name—her eyes widened, pain striking her and bending her over as the line on her pale chest began cracking further and opened into a gaping hole that exposed the bright blue heart beating inside.

As the heartbeat quickened, a guttural sound escaped her throat as the shadows that had surrounded her suddenly converge back into her body, impaling it with a thousand needles.

Her shrieks ran a cold chill down Noé whose first reaction had her rushing to her side. Her hands touched the cold skin of her shoulders, the iciness of them biting into her skin like a thousand winters, and summoned Grace of Sunlight to remove whatever she could of the amalgam Sera had ingested. But for as much as she was killing, more and more needles pierced Seraphina's skin, painting that pale white a bright scarlet. Panicking, Noé was about to unleash more magic when the sudden hold of cold hands shoved her away. Noé fell on her backside from the utter disbelief of what just happened and of what continued in front of her.

The amalgams that entered her body were beginning to deform her, turning flesh into black cancerous tumors that grew uncontrollably. Alarm clutched her heart at the familiar sight. One she saw almost 200 years prior on the outskirts of this very city when she confronted Pernadius' brother.

Another one infected by Ira. Another who had become a mindless monster like the kind Seraphina was turning before her eyes.

And as she turned into yet another one of them, Noé caught sight of her eyes that despite still being black were flickering between that bright cyan and the softest of seafoam greens as tears brimmed in them.

The plea was wordless yet it couldn't have been any louder.

'Help me.'

"You can't…" Andromalius sounded just as defeated as she felt. Because she knew, too. She knew that with her in this state, there was only one true way to help her.

That alone changed the meaning of her plea. It wasn't a cry for her to save her.

Noé choked on unshed tears.

"Noé, you know what's happening. You know what she's becoming. She won't be able to rest, not like this."

"I know…" Illah, do I know. And she couldn't be any more livid at who made it come to this.

Ira turned her into this, certainly tearing away at her over the years by whispering sweet promises she had no intention of keeping. Promises of unconditional love and company to a lonely girl like Seraphina.

The exact same thing she tried with her.

"Noé…"

Andromalius' tender voice helped her take a deep breath as she palmed away the tears in her eyes before they fell. The beast that now stood a few feet away from her roared mindlessly as a bitter reminder. She bit her bottom lip, hating what she knew had to be done.

Not for this country, not for her friends, not even for the world.

For the sweet little girl she allowed hatred to swallow her whole.

Suddenly, all hesitation was gone. The grip on her bow tightened an instant before she shot a volley of light arrows outward. The amalgam that Seraphina became, still gaining a hold on its own sentience, couldn't be bothered to dodge and took the full brunt of her arrows. Striking and slicing through the dark flesh, the light magic-infused arrowheads purified parts of the parasitic body to reveal what lay beneath her body and the exposed heart that the amalgam protected.

It's like Zydros Zaibas.

All that black flesh was nothing but armor to protect itself.

Chief, how did you and the others strike a fully grown blackbird?

Andromalius stumbled through her words at the sudden question. "H-How did you—"

I've always known you're an old Vastago, but you're also not just any old Vastago, either, she told her. You don't just know of the Zydros Zaibas because you've seen it. You fought against it, too, haven't you?

The fact that Andromalius couldn't find the words to respond with told her enough. Noé had never asked how Chief knew of the blackbird, but that she knew of it so well gave enough away that she could be certain of the assumption she was making. Andromalius might not have been the Valdovai warrior who gathered their tribes under a single banner, but she most certainly must have been part of the fight when she was around her age or maybe even younger. And if she had to guess by her plumage, Chief Andromalius had been the original chief of the Raudona, the tribe she was born of.

Telling her all this in the shortest of ways gave Andromalius enough time to take in what she had said, and enough time to affirm her theory and answer her question.

"The same one you attempted. Vanquishing its heart is the only way to destroy it for good. Otherwise, it will just keep regenerating. In a way, we're extremely lucky this one is but a fledgling who couldn't rationalize quite well just yet, but it won't be long before it gains enough logical sentience to fight back now that it's been fused with a human."

How exactly did you strike it down? Noé repeated with added emphasis.

"Our vedlys struck it down through the heart with his steeled feather and ripped it to shreds to keep it from regenerating. I believe the core concept remains…only now it's Seraphina's heart containing all that power."

"So I need to tear her heart apart to end this then," she finally said.

"I doubt you're strong enough to pierce through its defenses. Especially now." Glancing over her shoulder, her gaze followed Rakah as he joined her side. He held onto the iced side of his torso, his complexion pale from blood loss and sweating profusely. Through gritted teeth, he said, "Ira's interfered somehow."

"How can you be sure?"

"I felt it," he answered. The hand holding his side rose to clutch at the clothes over his heart. "Even if I'm not under her control, I'm still marked. I felt it when she suddenly forced a deluge of her power through it."

Wait a minute, she thought, brow furrowed. If he, too, received all that augmented dark rukh, then how is he still standing?

Something about her face must've given away exactly what she had been thinking. Rakah offered her a half-smirk. "I've got my ways of keeping her out of my head now."

"Is there no way…to get Ira out of Seraphina's?" Muu's words brought her to glance over at him as he now stood on her other side. He was definitely the worst out of the three of them because while Rakah had lost a good amount of blood, Muu barely seemed to be able to stand and keep conscious.

"Becoming a proxy is a willing process. Much like the Gifts, one can just as equally accept and deny it so long as their will is still strong enough to drive her influence out. That's why she can't take over us right out from the start. She needs to wear us down mentally first so we can't renege further down the line." Pursing his lips, Rakah shook his head with somberness in his amethyst eyes. "She got to Seraphina much too young though. I think that girl's mind has been beyond anybody's reach for a long time now."

Muu grimaced, the grip on his Metal Vessel tightening to the point of turning his knuckles a ghastly white. "Then there's really no other way?"

Noé had asked herself that so many times since seeing Seraphina again that it could have easily driven her insane. But much like many times before, she was only blinding herself to the undeniable. No amalgam she'd met that had gotten this far had ever returned to their human form once defeated. The moment they became the amalgam, they ceased to be human. They were nothing but a concentrated pool of dark rukh infused with wrath.

And much like she had against Persius, Noé would strike Seraphina down with her own hand until she was set free into the air as nothing but dust.

Blinking away the tears that brimmed in her eyes, Noé stared skyward. "No, Muu. Not if we want her suffering to end."

Not if what we want is to let her rest at last.

Muu gritted his teeth, frustration filling him to his core at what they had to do. A line of red slowly dripped from the hilt of his Metal Vessel and down against the blade from how his nail bit into his palm.

"Rakah." Noé jumped in her skin at the deep sound of his voice. At how it was between human and animalistic, as if he were barely able to keep himself from taking his more feral form to unleash his chaotic emotions. "Can you give me enough leeway to strike her down?"

His amethyst eyes blinked, just as surprised as she was to have Muu directly addressing Rakah after everything. The shock dissipated quickly enough for him to give a nod, his eyes veering towards the amalgam that stood ways ahead of them and that was starting to suddenly move again.

"I've got enough juice in me to stun her with Rumble of Thunder. But frankly, I don't trust you with the last hit," he confessed.

"I won't be the one to deal it." It was then that he lifted his head, those crimson eyes the only real indicator of what lay beneath all that rage. Nothing but grief for his friend.

And because she had been his friend for so long, Muu knew—it was so painfully obvious from the look in his eyes that he knew that he wouldn't be strong enough to deal that final blow.

But he trusted her to give it.

I don't.

Much like how Rakah accused her before, Noé didn't trust herself to be strong enough, either. Even despite the short and disparate time they shared together, she was much too attached to the girl. So how could that make her the obvious choice to him?

"Noé, look at her." She didn't want to. She really didn't want to. But under Andromalius' gentle coaxing, Noé finally lifted her emerald eyes to meet the amalgam once more and focused on the eyes hidden beneath all that dark flesh. "I know you can see what I see in her eyes. She's pleading to you. She wants you to end this."

I do, too.

Even if that meant breaking off another piece of her heart and burning it along another loved one's death.

Rakah's voice was gentle, almost like a knowing older brother's or a father's tone, as he asked her, "Can you do it?"

Noé didn't hesitate to nod. Only once. Stepping up to be exactly by Muu's side, she placed her hand over his, coaxing him with her touch as Andromalius had with her words. Slowly, his knuckle-white grip lessened under hers.

"I can."

I must.

Allowing Grace of Sunlight to manifest, the light underneath their joined hands fractured and as she took her hand away from his, Noé took an exact replica of his sword entirely made of light crystal.

Without a word more, she took into the air before rushing at the amalgam with her sword brandished outward. With its sentience more solidified now, it was capable of blocking her frontal slash. Noé didn't allow it time to think. Instead, she laid upon it slash after slash, using as little magoi as possible. Right at that moment, defeating it wasn't her goal. Being a distraction was.

"How long will it take Rakah to conjure Rumble of Thunder?" Andromalius called out through the cacophony of her fight.

"With his body in tatters and his rukh unstable thanks to Ira?" she responded after a grunt and an upward cut that ripped through the amalgam's arm, "Too fucking long for my taste."

A few roars of thunder going off overhead was the only notice she got before a sheet of rain fell . I'll eat my words then. Rakah was putting his whole damn heart into gathering the lightning he needed to stun it to the point that he was starting to affect the weather. Though it was affecting her by blocking the sun, she would rather have that than not have him at full power to immobilize the damn thing. Especially now that it was starting to dodge her attacks instead of simply blocking.

Is it learning?

"It's waking up."

As if finally aware of its surroundings, the amalgam scanned its surroundings before a pair of malformed wings erupted from its back. It took off from the ground after a few clumsy flaps of its new appendages. Clicking her tongue, Noé turned back towards the magician and yelled, "Rakah, it's—!"

"Shut up and get ready!"

Noé only spared a second to assess her surroundings at his call. Up above and out of the way was Rakah with his staff and the seal of Rumble of Thunder brightly shining behind him as the dark clouds roared to life. Right beneath the amalgam's flight trajectory stood Muu with his Metal Vessel at the ready. If they were to approach this similarly to the Zydros Zaibas, then their positions made sense. Flashing to hover by Rakah's side was where Noé decided to wait her turn. Because once that lightning strike fell, it would be her turn to take her position.

"Rumble of Thunder, you who bestowed upon the world the roaring thunder and powerful lightning to power the possibilities of our future, bestow upon me your gift. Grant me and mine greater power as I give to you my body and mind."

Her emerald eyes grew wide at the change that came over Rakah as his seal appeared to react to his words and course golden electricity through his body that mixed with hues of dark purple. The sudden rush of electricity running through him seemed to jerk his muscles as they twitched under his skin, but Rakah kept his position as he summoned a magic circle that encompassed the whole of the skies and dark clouds above them.

"Altiniyn Ramz Al-Salos!"

The lightning that struck down formed out of golden and dark purple twin strikes that mingled as they descended forming the upper and bottom jaws of what Noé could only describe as the ferocious maw of a dragon. Descending with greater and greater speed, the dragon's jaw opened and engulfed the amalgam whole, guiding a flurry of lightning to then follow up and strike it down.

As the blinding light from the lightning strikes dissipated, another from below took her attention. It was Muu's djinn-equip and beneath him was the eight-pointed star of his Extreme Magic. Muu had no words to say, but from her position, Noé could see the glint of tears as they rolled down his face as he pierced upward with his lance, striking the amalgam and breaking a giant opening through the clouds to let the sunshine through.

"Noé, now!"

Noé didn't need to be told. She had already flashed before Andromalius had even finished calling her name and landed above the amalgam now bare without its parasitic armor after Barbatos's Extreme Magic. Without it, there was nothing else except what lay inside, Seraphina's body with her cyan heart protruding from her chest.

Beating. Alive. Chained.

Not for much longer.

Holding the blade upright, Noé pressed the flat side against her forehead, the cool steel contrasting against the warmth of the seal as she summoned it.

Grace of Sunlight, you who bestowed upon us our days and the warmth of the sun, bestow upon me your gift. Grant me and mine greater power as I give to you my body and mind.

The sun flickered overhead before its light narrowed down until only the concentrated ray fell upon them. The heat of it was unbearable, the thirst much worse as it desiccated her entire body, but even through that pain, Noé forced her voice through the peeling skin of her throat to call upon Andromalius' power.

"Great huntress of the skies, let my aim be true. Purge the darkness with your light and bring about the dawn of a new day: Alfajr Alsahm Alkhariq!"

At the cry of the spell being cast, Noé plunged down towards Seraphina's bare body, piercing the cyan heart as the light of the seal empowered her strike and vanquished what was left of the parasitic flesh clinging to her body.

A shriek beneath her had Noé turning down to Seraphina as she wrapped one arm around the girl's waist to hold her in place midair. There, bright as could be with swirls of that same bright cyan, was the parasite that had clung to her back, lurking further within Seraphina's exposed chest. It had gone through it from where it nestled right beneath her heart.

Her parasite.

The one connecting her to Ira.

Gritting her teeth, Noé called forth for the sunray that had narrowed to further do so until it struck down right through her blade, vanquishing the parasite and further opening the wound she dealt to her heart as they both finally plunged into the ground.

The parasite disappeared along with the dust after it settled, and once gone, it wasn't long after that the miasma on Seraphina's back followed. Suddenly silence surrounded them. One that felt extremely suffocating as all Noé could hear were the raspy short breaths beneath her. Blood slipped through her fingers as she held her body upright against the sword and it bloomed from her chest and heart. Blood that, now without the parasite infesting her body, turned from a bright cyan to a deep crimson.

She's…human again?

Andromalius didn't answer. She didn't know how to answer. This was just as much an unexpected outcome for her as it was for Noé. But even if she had turned back, it didn't change the fact that a blade was still pierced right through her heart.

Regardless of what she was now, Seraphina would still die.

And she deserves a better place to do so than this.

Noé didn't hesitate to do what she did, even as her sorrow choked her and her whole body was in enough pain to render her unconscious. She didn't care that Rakah and Muu were calling for her. She didn't care that Andromalius was urging her to let go.

Noé wouldn't. Not until she gave her a proper resting place.

The light sword shattered an instant before the light fractured around her and she flashed the two of them away from there. Away from the chaos and the noise and to the quiet garden of beautiful white flowers behind her cabin.

Their landing caused a flourish of petals to rise in the air and as they fell around them, Noé carefully cradled Seraphina in one arm and brushed away the hair from her beautiful pale face. Every breath was labored and raspy, and every time she exhaled a sharp cough erupted from her spilling more blood from her open wound and through her lips.

Noé refused to take her gaze off of her pretty little seafoam green eyes. Even when, with each passing second, they continued to get more and more glazed over and widen a little less each time Seraphina gasped for every rattling breath.

Through those harsh gasps, her tiny voice gurgled as tears spilled down the side of her face.

"I…I loved you…Mama. But you—did you…ever…"

Her heart constricted at the mindless words she whispered, but she smiled down upon her all the while stroking her head. Through the pooling of tears in her eyes, Noé nodded vigorously and rested her hand upon her cold cheek before leaning down to press her lips against her forehead. Noé held her closer, wanting her warmth to be there as she slipped away, and inadvertently let her tears fall on her cherubic face.

"I did," Noé responded through sobs. "I do. I will always love you, my little star. Always."

One last rattling breath. One last gurgled attempt to speak that amounted to nothing. And then a quiet exhale that left the little girl heavy in her arms. And as the burden suddenly turned lighter, Noé shot up to sit straight only to watch as her body turned completely black. And like the frail remnants of burnt charcoal, be blown away in the breeze that blew across the gardens, taking her along with the white petals in a swirl of black and white into the bright blue sky.

It wasn't until her hands were completely empty and every last bit of Seraphina was gone into the wind that Noé released her djinn-equip and allowed for her tears to fall freely and silently.

It was difficult to discern how much time passed. Noé refused to move or listen to Andromalius who wished for her to return to Remano, to not be alone after what happened. But there hadn't been a reason to move. Not when the scent of earth and spices suddenly blended subtly into the sweet smell of the white lilies of the garden. Not when it was so plainly obvious who it was simply by the sense of wholeness that once again came over her as the two pieces of Grace of Sunlight came back in touch with one another.

Muu fell to his knees before her and gingerly took her face into his hands to press their foreheads together. The moment his hands touched her skin, Noé's eyes closed to savor the warmth of his skin and the scent of him, begging for it to claim her and force the sudden void away. But there was no point in wishing for what neither of them could give the other after the loss of someone so precious to both.

So intead, Muu cried.

He cried for their lost friend. For the one they couldn't save.

Unable to withstand it anymore, Noé wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him, her own tears falling against his quivering shoulders as his hands wrapped around her back.

"I really hate to interrupt but…our problems aren't quite over yet."

Rakah sounded rightly ashamed for what he did, but his words did bring her a sense of urgency. Muu, however, wouldn't let go of her, not even when she squeezed his shoulders to do so. In the end, she resorted to words despite how hoarse her voice was from overusing the seal.

"Muu."

After another full second and a shaky breath, he slowly released her, pulling back with his head down as he palmed away the tears from his face. Doing the same without hiding it, Noé carefully rose to her feet with Muu close behind and turned to Rakah.

"What is it?" she asked quietly to not strain herself.

"There's something stirring the seas over the eastern waters near Magnostadt, south near Balbadd, and north near the edge of the Tengen Plateau," he quickly reported.

Noé brow furrowed at the description, tracing the routes he gave on the map in her head. "Kouian warships?"

She vaguely remembered Yunan saying something of a civil war starting in Kou just around the time she returned from the Great Rift. Beside her, Muu shook his head. "That's doubtful. Their civil war is between the eastern front and the western faction located in Balbadd. If any warships would travel, they would be heading east not south."

"No, these weren't heading south out of Balbadd. They were coming from the south towards it." That little tad bit had both of them confused and had Rakah explaining further. "From the way the seas are being parted by the ships, they're heading towards Reim's shores now."

Can't possibly be anything good.

"We need to return. Now," she said, a little tenor returning to her voice, but was stopped by Rakah when she so much as moved to flash them back to Remano.

"Allow me." Rakah offered his arm, but instead, she stared down at his wound. All Rakah did in response was shrug his shoulders. "Using spare magic will hurt me less than seeing you use Grace of Sunlight after you released its locks for that split second."

Peeved but knowing that was for the best, Noé laid her hand on his forearm before taking a hold of Muu's hand. Flashing away, the three landed at the edge of the city. The saltiness of the ocean waters hitting her nostrils gave that away instantaneously. But that was the extent of what she knew. There was no chance to ask, either. Everyone around them was busy in a hustle and bustle that had Noé's head spinning mildly.

"Where—"

Muu was quick to answer her barely-asked question. "One of the western posts in Remano; the 18th unit watches over port transactions here."

"The oceanic disturbances are closest to here by a handful of miles." The shouting from the hurried soldiers and panicked sailors had them moving out of the way from their busy paths as they rushed in and out of the streets. "And by the sound of things, that's quite close."

Muu didn't wait to lead them up to the top of the ramparts where a better vantage point awaited them. One that gave them a perfect view of exactly what this sudden other problem was all about.

Ships. Hundreds of them. All waving an annoyingly familiar flag.

"Sindrian ships," Noé said with a click of her tongue.

Muu squinted his eyes to look toward the sky over the incoming ships. "Are those…"

"Artemyrian birds." Rakah and Noé affirmed his suspicions, but it was Rakah who pointed out the fact that those birds had soldiers as riders. "They're war birds."

Before they could discuss any further, Muu was spotted by a soldier and called to be reported on what had been happening there on the outskirts while they were away fighting in Remano's center. Left alone with Rakah, the blonde magician crossed his arms as he pensively stared off into the not-so-far horizon littered with ships.

"Is it an invasion?"

Noé shook her head. "Sindria and Artemyra are part of the Seven Seas Alliance. By decree, they don't conquer or let themselves be conquered."

"I doubt they're coming with that many people just to drop by and say 'hello'."

"The only thing I can think of is that they're acting upon the allegiance with Reim that they struck while Scheherazade was still alive."

This time it was his turn to be taken aback. "That's still in play?"

She nodded, holding her chin in between her fingers as she further thought out loud about what could possibly be happening. "Muu told me that even if they didn't like it, with Scheherazade gone, they couldn't undo it without becoming the weakest amongst the triadic power nations. Especially not after the stunt he pulled at the Summit by siding with Kou's little fireboy."

"Even if that's the case, what could their excuse be? What's the threat they could possibly be coming to help fight against?"

"Seraphina."

Both turned at Muu's single-word response, the rawness at even the mention of her name being enough to wrench her own heart. A couple of soldiers accompanied him, most likely the ones who filled him in on everything that happened in their absence.

"An official who was able to escape before Sera took over and closed Remano's borders sent word of what was happening," he said. "Apparently, they also helped Emperor Hakuryuu end the civil war as the Kou Empire's allies."

Her knitted brow must've let him know that this needed a good and concise explanation. He gave it on what the two of them had missed while on the other side of the Great Rift. It appeared that the Seven Seas Alliance had helped end the civil war that Kou had been having by allying with Hakuryuu's faction. Not only that but they were now storming in to 'help' Reim after the so-called emergency aid request.

"This sounds rather convenient if you ask me," Rakah pointed out once Muu finished his explanation. "Has word been sent to them that the conflict has ended and that there's no need for aid?"

At this, Muu groaned and nodded. "But they sent word claiming that the call for aid still stands, seeing as there is still a viable threat that could harm the capital and its people."

His crimson eyes sweeping over to meet hers was enough to tell her what exactly they had meant by that response.

They're using me as their excuse now that Seraphina wasn't enough.

Beside her, Rakah let loose a low whistle. "Bastard's got it all coldly calculated, huh?"

She hated to agree on that point.

"It doesn't sound like you're surprised," Andromalius said.

I'm not, actually.

Somehow Noé figured this might happen someday, too. After her little tussle with Rakah at the Summit, all the nations saw what she was capable of. It had crossed her mind a few times that any nation might deem her a possible threat to themselves and others and search for a way to hold her accountable so she wouldn't be able to give aid with her powers or by getting rid of her altogether. Sinbad would have been her first pick on who would try and pull something to this degree.

It just didn't occur to her that it would be this soon.

Telling this to them, Rakah shook his head with a grimace forming on his lips. "Then he's not going to leave until he sees you leave for good. Or worse." He turned towards the horizon where the line of warships was already more than visible in its entirety and managed a smug smirk. "If he's doing this much to kick you out of Reim, I daresay he's scared of you."

"He should be," Noé replied and bared her teeth towards the horizon. "Especially when he's coming after my home."

"We need to settle this diplomatically before they breach the navy lines." Muu pointed towards the buoys standing out in the middle of the sea a fair number of miles away from shore but close enough to the ships that they might reach them in ten minutes or less. "If Sindria crosses those lines, I won't be able to stop the military from taking action. They'll see the breach as a declaration of war regardless of what Sinbad claims."

"The havoc caused by the last seven days won't allow that," Noé retorted. "Either response will be too slow after the hit they took. Even if you want to counter right away, they'll break the line before any Reimian navy ever sets sail."

Rakah brandished out his hand with a wave of his wrist. "I can push them back with Blooming Waves if you want."

To that, Noé shook her head again. "That won't deter them from coming. What we need is a strong front to stand against the might of the nations comprising the Alliance."

"How about the might of three allied nations?"

All three of them turn at the sound of Yunan's voice and at the rather weird suggestion he gave. The first to speak up was Muu with the same furrowed brow they all shared.

"Yunan? But…I thought you went back to the Great Rift."

"I did," Yunan assured him. "But after meeting some nice new folks, I thought you would appreciate the hand. Besides, a couple of others were also mighty eager to help once they heard you had a problem they could help with."

Before Noé could question anything, a tiny body slammed into her and almost toppled her off her feet had it not been for Muu and Rakah's hands holding her up. Glancing down, Noé's gaze softened as big and round crimson eyes looked up at her.

"Rhea?"

Muu's alarming call didn't sound confused, though it should have. Frankly, however, all she cared about was that the young Fanalis was well and alive. Her arms wrapped around her shoulders without a second thought and Rhea returned the gesture by hugging her waist as tightly as she could. Despite the pain of that strong hold, Noé didn't deny her comfort. Once she pulled back, she inspected her and sighed at seeing her safe and sound.

"Thank Illah, you're okay."

Rhea nodded a couple of times, turning behind her as she said, "Maa-nii made sure I stayed safe."

Maahes…?

Noé almost feared she heard wrong, but thankfully, the one waiting to meet her gaze was indeed the young Heliophatian alchemist who came forth with a grand smile and the slight shine of tears over his eyes.

"Miss Noé, I'm so glad—" She didn't let him finish. Instead, she brought his head closer onto her shoulder and embraced both him and Rhea together for a good minute. Both reciprocated the gesture, unable to deny her that and wanting it just as much after everything they went through.

Muu had to bring them apart but did it for a good reason. One that Andromalius had to make her focus on as Yunan called for her attention as he tipped back the rim of his hat.

"They weren't the only ones who accompanied me back here."

Her emerald eyes looked beyond Yunan as the wandering magi turned to the side to let the crowd that had followed him there step up. It was then that her eyes widened.

What in high hell…?

"H-How…?"

A smirk slowly formed on Noé's lips at the sight of Narsus, the young Fanalis hunter. Not only him, either. Several other Vastago and even a handful of pureblood Fanalis were amongst the crowd that parted the sea of soldiers and civilians, making the whole of the square stand still in stunned silence at what now walked amongst them.

Yunan approached her then with a cheeky smile. "The leaders of the species on the other side wanted to pay their gratitude forward."

"Gratitude?"

"For the flowers?" Muu asked.

The magi tilted his head. "Partially. But also for breaching the wall that kept them on the other side."

Breaching the wall? The first part she understood. It was the one thing she asked of Yunan before breaking into Remano. But that second piece of information had her a bit stunted. It wasn't until she turned to Muu with an inquisitive raised brow that the Fanalis shrugged his shoulder with a half-smirk.

"That's for another time, I think."

"Y'know, for as amazing as this ragtag team is, it's only three nations by name when in fact this is nothing more than three peoples united." Rakah was the one that was quick to point this fact out. He wasn't wrong, either. "And not to be a killjoy but they have six Metal Vessel users against you two."

"Three." Noé couldn't believe her eyes when Niko landed a few feet away from Yunan, letting his djinn-equip fall as he joined them. Almost instantly, his gaze fell upon her. "Maladh owes its current prosperity to your help. Allow me as its current chieftain and Metal Vessel user to join your alliance against this tyranny you face."

"Maladh has a decades' long neutrality," Noé retorted, stepping up to speak to him face-to-face. Niko veered his eyes away once. "Doing this will undo all of that."

It was then that Nikotis showed a cheekier side to him as he shrugged and said, "That was my mother's time and decision. Not choosing sides cost us dearly once. I won't let it cost me anything a second."

Rakah placed one hand on his hips and rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, three Metal Vessel users. Let's get the rest straightened up while we're counting our ducks." He promptly pointed at himself. "I'm out of this pretty picture seeing as my appearance would be rather detrimental after our little squabble at the Summit." His finger then shot out to point at the Vastago. "They can't fly much less fight here."

"We can, too!" Narsus retorted.

"Not without having experienced the rukh here, so shut it, pipsqueak." Noé smacked his shoulder but Rakah simply ignored the wordless reprimand before turning back to her and the rest. "The Fanalis are a good addition, but revealing them too early could be detrimental, too. Not to mention they're only good for after those ships land on shore which is what we're trying to avoid if I remember correctly."

"Quit it with the snark," Noé reprimanded.

"Honestly, what do you expect from us in the state we're in?" Muu put in.

"I don't know," he groaned in response. "Can't we come up with an actual plan maybe?"

That silenced them all and had them giving it all a brief thought.

Any ideas?

"I can tell you one thing, he's right," Andromalius offered. "Though these additions are welcomed, they certainly won't help avoid the incoming disaster as they are. It's too risky to actually send them into battle no matter how frightening they might appear."

Noé's brow furrowed slowly as the last sentence Andromalius spoke turned a certain gear in her brain that hadn't been moving before. Once running, her fingers snapped bringing to her the attention of Muu and Rakah whom she pulled by their ears to bring her to her height and started whispering her plan.

—{ii}—

"Are you certain of this plan of yours, Noé?"

To be entirely honest, no.

But they had to try something.

The frenzied waves beneath her crashed against each other as she hovered above the open ocean in her full djinn-equip. Her whole body still ached and she still hadn't had the time to recover from the abuse she'd been thrown into for the past seven days and the fight that morning, but Noé was determined to not let a single ounce of that exhaustion show.

Not against this man.

Andromalius took a long and deep breath. "The ships reached the line."

Let's get this underway then.

Aiming upward with her bow, Noé nocked back a single arrow and shot it into the air. The brightness of the sunlight blinded the arrow from view and as it fell following its trajectory, it flourished into a volley of dozens of arrows that struck the sea just a few feet before the incoming ships. The piercing arrows created a line of whirlpools that swung the ships out of their path, sending them careening to the sides and some even hitting each other.

Whoops.

Slight oversight, but all for a good cause. Thankfully, whatever damage came to the warships wasn't in vain. From the particular ship heading the vanguard, a sudden strike of blue lightning erupted outward and headed straight for her.

"He's coming."

Her brow rose gleefully, but she scowled at what else she also saw. "And he's bringing company."

It took Sinbad and the Metal Vessel users of Artmeyra and Heliohapt only a few seconds to arrive where she was, each fully clad in their respective djinn-equips that Noé recognized.

Chief Baal, Chief Cero, and Chief Vass; what a trio.

Cerberus was trouble enough. Baal and Vassago were really just an added bonus. If she were in better shape, Noé would've entertained the notion of having a tussle with the three of them, but right now wasn't the time. Right now, there was something more important to take care of.

So instead, Noé addressed the three of them with a sweet smile that belied her exhaustion.

"Fancy meeting you here, sailor boy."

The King of the Seven Seas chuckled and crossed his arms while holding Baal's sword upright. A warning. Be civil, it said, and she was anything but. "You saw us coming from a mile away. Certainly, it isn't much of a surprise."

"No, on the contrary," she pointed out. "I find it more than mildly disquieting that an alliance that swears off conquest stands here encroaching on another free country's territory."

He smiled back at her, catching onto her game. "We aren't here to conquer Reim. We are actually here to help. The Seven Seas Alliance received urgent word from Reim and seeing as we forged an alliance with its late magi, I saw fit to intervene and end the conflict within."

"The help is much appreciated, but it's unnecessary," she retorted. "Reim has dealt with the threat on its own already. So you can just, you know, skedaddle back to Sindria and go plan your world domination quest for another day."

Though that boyish grin never left him, the darkening of his eyes certainly gave away that he would not tolerate her simply brushing them off like that. "I highly doubt that is the cause seeing as you are standing right here before us. Not to mention you attacked our ships."

"Correction, I was keeping at bay what looked to be an invasion against my country is all. And very much necessary if you ask me, seeing as your big scary alliance was ganging up on our little country after hearing of even the slightest disturbance."

The one who took his turn to speak that time around was Heliohapt's king who so rudely interrupted their one-on-one conversation.

"Regardless of whatever disturbance they rid themselves of, the fact of the matter still stands that the only real menace to that country is someone like you who cannot possibly control her own powers with how sickly you currently are."

"Sickly?" Noé chuckled at the accusation and had the golden wings she had wrapped around her shoulders like a shimmering shawl to unfurl behind her and let the extent of her upper body be shown to the three of them present there. "I'm happy to hear your concern for my health, your highness, but as you can so clearly see, I'm no longer afflicted by the disease I had back at the Summit that surely the sailor boy over here told you about. I can assure you, there will not be another hiccup from now onward."

"How can you be trusted?" Sinbad suddenly asked. "Even if what you say is true and you are no longer sick, you have still fallen into depravity."

Noé raised an eyebrow, keeping her expression collected. Is he just throwing everything to see what sticks?

"They all are," Andromalius added, realizing what they were doing as well. "They want to pin you as the enemy to beat and more than likely indebt Reim to them."

What a bunch of self-righteous assholes. Especially sailor boy.

Yunan had been brief before she left to face Sinbad and the Seven Seas Alliance, but he told her everything she needed to know in the span of a short minute. That man was half-fallen like herself and was talking out of his ass by pinning such a thing on her while hiding that same fact from the rest of the world.

His out-of-pocket comment didn't deter Noé and instead, she smirked back at him. "I've crawled myself out of that hole. Perhaps not completely quite yet but enough to manage a half-fallen state that would certainly serve me well against you, don't you think? I'm sure you understand how it serves one well when they know how to control it."

It was then that at last, finally, his charismatic smile faltered and he donned a rather ominous mask.

"You are a threat all the same," he proclaimed. "One that cannot be left unchecked when you have not only threatened an allied country but also placed my allied kingdoms and myself in peril."

Her emerald eyes couldn't have rolled further back into her head had she wanted them to. "You know, for a simple little sailor boy, you certainly know how to hold a grudge. But I will say that despite all the bullshit you have spat the past few minutes, you actually got one thing right. I am a threat and a very dangerous one at that. But only to those who threaten my home."

This time it was the queen hailing from Artemyra that barked back at her with an authority she had the gall to flaunt before her. "Are you actually daring to threaten us as blatantly as this?"

"Yes, your highness, that is exactly what I'm doing. After all, how else am I expected to respond when a battalion of ships and birds carrying soldiers and Metal Vessel users approaches the shores of my country?"

"You act quite haughty for a country with only a couple of Metal Vessel users and a novice magi," Sinbad said.

"True, it would be considered acting haughty if that was the current state we found ourselves in, but unluckily for you…it isn't." The faces of the two royals following Sinbad were drawn down into a scowl. Sinbad remained expressionless as he observed the situation unfolding. Then let's give the man a show, shall we? "You know, I learned quite a bit from you, sailor boy, but one thing that really stuck with me was that alliances are a great thing to have. So I got busy and made a few calls of my own."

With a tightening of her lips, Noé gave a loud whistle that resonated through the air. At her call, a solid battalion of Vastagians took into the air. A strung pull from her own body almost caused her to falter in midair but Noé held herself upright.

"Child, your body."

Yeah, I know. The Vastago that crossed over hadn't been 100% right to fly properly, but with a little bit of magic from her own seal to help them with their defects, it was possible to create the picture she wanted to paint. A horde of other Vastago warriors like her, all armed and ready to confront them.

"As the current vedlys of the twelve Vastago tribes, or I suppose chief in your language, I have officially allied with the Reim Empire," she explained. "Not only that but I also got a visit from an old friend who wanted in on our little endeavor as well."

Nikotis was right on cue, flying in on his own djinn-equip and forcing the royals behind Sinbad to stiffen at the new addition.

Noé gave a slight nod Niko's way. "Seven Seas Alliance, I present to you Nikotis Ramal, the current chief of the city of Maladh. Oh, by the way, he also recants their stance of neutrality, too. Just in case you were wondering. Now, what else could I possibly be forgetting? Oh, that's right!"

With a flourish of her hand, Noé pressed it against her chest in dramatized excitement.

"Get to the point, you birdbrain."

Let me enjoy this for a second.

Sadly, she didn't, so Noé was forced to cut the suspense short and reveal her last card.

"You see, my mate also happened to get in contact with his old family down south and they are the loveliest people. I'm sure you'd love them, they're just like him." Tugging at the link between them was enough for Noé to let Muu know that it was his time to act. After getting there in his full djinn-equip, he instantly undid it to transform midair into his Fanalis form and landed on the pane of solidified light she created for him as a platform. "It's a shame but only the immediate family came to say hello. I'd hate to have to invite the rest at the moment. There's just not enough space for them, y'know?"

King Amun-Ra was the first to speak after her introductions, mumbling under his breath. "Where did those things come from…"

A bit of her rage ignited at the way he said those words. All the same, she didn't allow it to show through the smile she offered and instead leaned forward onto her bow while creating a pane to lean onto in midair.

"Funny you ask that, your majesty, because it was actually your half-brother who help bring them here," she said. "And I'm not talking about sailor boy's retainer. I'm talking about the brother a couple of years younger than you, the son of a maidservant that your mother had beheaded after discovering his existence."

The shock that marred his face made the playful teasing all the more savory.

"Yeah, Maahes. He sends his regards, too." Picking up her bow, she twirled it on her wrist between the golden string and bow. "And I imagine that Heliohapt wouldn't want any problems with my tribe and Maladh, correct?"

The warning was loud and clear and it had Sinbad intervening almost instantly.

"That sounds like a threat of invasion."

"Oh, not at all," she said, lazily picking invisible lint off of her wing and spreading it out behind her once done. "It's more of a promise that I'll protect my home. You see, boy, I'll let you in on a secret. Despite how much you flaunt your alliances and your multiple conquered dungeons, at the end of the day, your powers aren't truly yours. They're the djinns'. They're nothing but borrowed power."

Pools of gold narrow, glinting at her perceived threat. "Yours are no different."

"You would be right if you were speaking of only Andromalius," she said, "But unlike you, I possess a power that is mine and mine alone. Powers that, may I remind you, can do this—" The sun flickered above them, sinking them into the darkness of grays. "And leave you all to freeze in an ice age to come."

Flickering again, the light and warmth of the sun returned. Her lips formed a smile as Noé stood straighter than before, shoulders squared and held back as she stood proudly against what the world saw as the most powerful man alive.

But the world's never seen me like this before.

"So I hope I got it through your head, boy," she finally added. "Think twice about setting foot upon my home, because I'll have you know that above all else, I am a very territorial woman."

The stalemate created a tense and thick atmosphere that could be cut with a knife. Nobody wanted to budge. Nobody wanted to be the first to stand down. With each passing second, Noé prayed to whatever was out there that her show of power had been enough. That with at least this much, she was able to safeguard Reim for another day.

Noé held her breath staring straight at those pools of gold.

Sinbad looked back at her for only a moment longer before sighing through his nose and showing off a faint, begrudging smile and bowing his head.

"I'll admit that you might not be as detrimental to Reim as we first assumed."

"Yeah," she said through gritted teeth. "I agree."

It was then that the mighty King of the Seven Seas waved a hand out towards his accompanying kings to dismiss them. Both spared a glance at their ally with confusion but seemed to know better than to question him in front of her. There was something in his eye that prompted her to do the same, assuring both Muu and Niko that she'd be okay with a mere glance before they moved an inch. Now with only the two of them, Sinbad had the gall to laugh at her.

"I applaud your move," he said with a slight deepening to his voice. "With such a brilliant mind in Reim, I would be greatly interested in furthering our relationships."

Her nose visibly scrunching down at such a prospect, Noé emphasized exactly how she felt about that by sticking out her tongue.

"Don't think so, sailor boy. Titus, the Alexius family and the Emperor already saw what you're about after that little stunt of yours in that civil war." She scoffed and shook her head at simply thinking of the audacity he had to say that after what he did. "I'll give it to you. It was smart to think you could use the little scuffle over here to take over just as you did with Kou. But I won't allow you to pull the rug from under them. Not so long as I'm here."

The fact that he didn't admit to anything and simply offered her a boyish grin said enough. Oh, how she wished she could smack it right off of his face.

"Another day will come."

"Then be prepared to face the might of age-old predators whenever that impromptu visit is paid. And of course, I'll be here to welcome you as well. So long as I am here, I vow to you that Reim will remain untouched by your hand."

Sinbad chuckled and his grin widened. "It's sad to think Reim won't have you around forever."

"Oh, don't you worry about that. I'm as much of a cockroach as Sheherazade was," she said with a haughty smirk that showed off her sharp canines. "So don't be holding your breath on my dying off anytime soon."

"Then till next we meet, Noé," he said, floating backward towards his ships and flying off.

Watching him go until he reached his ship, Noé hollered out, cupping her hand against her mouth to give more volume to her voice. "Hope that day never comes for your sake!"

"Noé…"

Andromalius' grumbling was pleasant music to her ears, but as she stumbled when attempting to fly out, Noé had to admit that she might be right to reprimand her childishness for once.

"Sorry, Chief," she muttered with a laugh. "Mind lending a hand to send us home?"

The sigh was quite loud in her head, but in the same breath, Andromalius chuckled. "You pompous little chick."

The light around her refracted and she disappeared in the blink of an eye as she flashed away. The bits of light that flickered back into place placed her on the edge of the walls, but that little bit of expenditure of magoi drained what energy she had left. A step on the parapets was all she could muster before her djinn-equip fell from her body. Sparklings of light flickered off of her as she fell forward, tripping on her feet.

Strong arms caught her as she fell forward. Even as she fell into the warmth of those arms, there was no unease in her mind as those arms that smelled of earth and spices held her closer. Heavy eyelids opened halfway only to find crimson eyes gazing down at her.

A weak, half-smile lifted the edge of her lips as she muttered a soft, "Hey, handsome. How's our problem looking?"

Muu chuckled, shaking his head at her audacity before raising his head and looking toward the horizon. "Look for yourself."

Using him to lean on, Noé lifted her head a bit away from his shoulder to follow his gaze. Though hard to see at first, it was clear that the ships were heading off away from Reim's shores. It was then that everything else happening around her finally registered to her senses. The ovations and relief exploding around her were deafening as the soldiers and civilians lauded the win.

Veering toward the sound, her emerald eyes landed on the crowd nearest to her. Friends she knew, people she didn't. Humans, Fanalis, magicians, and Vastago alike. All species that she had once known to be nothing but hostile towards one another were now cheering for their joint victory.

It was a sight she never thought she'd see again. Seeing her people and the Fanalis in all their forms alongside humans was a true sight to behold. In them, she saw what she once had with Scheherazade and Pernadius. She could see in them the family she had lost in Alma Toran.

And as Noé's began to flutter close, exhaustion finally taking over, she swore one last thing to herself.

This time…this time for sure I'll protect it.

The home she made for them all.

---

A/N:

Holy shit. Two days before 2022 is over and I squeeze in the penultimate chapter. There's so much that happened these past two weeks that I have had absolutely no time to work on these last two chapters. I want to finish this series before the year ends, but with how everything is starting to look, I may have to owe that last chapter for the first days of 2023.

I'll work hard and see if it can be done, if not, I'll just see you guys in the new year! Here is my cheer for the new year and that you all had wonderful holidays and that you have a wonderful New Year's Eve! If I don't see you guys tomorrow, I'll definitely be seeing ya'll 2023!

Wishing you all a happy new year,

— Evie.