Records of Salvation

One day, I realised I had nothing.

I thought my pockets were full of happiness, but they turned out to be empty.

That only made sense; I had made no effort to fill them with anything.

I led an aimless, hollow life without substance.

"I'll do it all over again. And this time, I'll do it properly."

An earnest wish. But it was a harder wish to grant than I thought.

What is happiness? Is it like youth? What is youth, then?

It was a hard question, but I decided to set out on a journey to find the answer.

After some time, I realised that, maybe, I had taken steps in the wrong direction.

If time could only march on ruthlessly, maybe fruitlessly seeking something I could no longer obtain was not the right thing to do.

My youth was gone in the wind, but maybe I still have a chance at happiness.

Yes. What I was really looking for, all this time, was just…

~~[r]~~

The rain poured on Kazamatsuri in curtains and sheets, fluttering like a colourless version of the Northern Lights.

"Tennouji." My former teammate turned friendly highschool teacher fixed me with an icy glare. "You've been busy, I see.

"There was a lot I needed to do."

"You hurt Shizuru. You're going to put the world in danger."

"I didn't want to, but she wouldn't leave me alone. Just like how you're not going to leave me alone right now, either." The rain continued to fall. "As for the world, it's already in danger, and I'm going to stop it."

Nishikujou said nothing.

"I wonder. All those times you saw me in school, just as a normal student–what were you thinking? You must have known that I had made friends with Shizuru. That Lucia was my Class Rep, even if I never really talked much with her before the Occult Club. You were just smiling and happy, all the time." Without even turning to look, my arm rotates backwards to point my sword at Imamiya, who had been trying to sneak up on me. "That goes for you as well. You helped me out with that camera, right? I heard something funny from you at the time, but it was so weird that I ignored it."

Guess you really are just a normal student now.

Against my expectations, Nishikujou's face fell. "I never thought that. If there's one thing I'll never forget, it's that day of our first mission in Kazamatsuri. When we ran off into the forest and you followed."

"Boy, that was a wake-up call." Imamiya said. "They said you were so badly injured you couldn't even walk, and could barely talk. Gotta say, I was also mighty surprised. When I saw you out on the streets, I thought you were a whole different person."

Nishikujou seems to agree. "You looked so cheerful. You fooled around and were friendly. You really were like just another kid." She lowered her eyes. "I thought it was fortunate that you made it out alive. That it was a blessing in disguise that you left Guardian, and became who you are now."

"It was. Why do you think I'm fighting so hard now?" I draw Shizuru's combat knife with my left hand and point it at Nishikujou, while my Aurora blade remained trained on Imamiya. "I need to protect my second chance."

I could see Guardian's logic behind killing the Key, even if I didn't agree with it at all. But that was not all.

What would they do to Inoue, if they got to the top of that tree? How would they silence her? Silence us?

An "accident", where nobody else could see? Memory erasure? A long series of blackmail and emotional manipulation?

Everything was unacceptable.

"How much do you actually remember?"

I stare down Nishikujou. "Enough." I smirk. "Like how you were so excited about school. So you made your dream come true, huh?"

"What–"

The schoolteacher turns slightly red, and Imamiya laughs. "That's right! I remember that as well. Sure was funny, seeing you so–"

"You don't want to finish that sentence," Nishikujou said darkly.

"I also remember how you were buddy-buddy with me," I turn to the redhead with a grin. "Up until the point where my evaluations results returned, and then you started treating me like shit."

Not that I held a special grudge against him. He was just another ordinary superhuman that looked down on others.

Imamiya's jovial expression scrunches up. "So you really were hiding your power all this time?"

"Yeah." My grin only widens. "How do you feel about it?"

Okay. Maybe I did feel a bit resentful.

"Bastard. And now you're on Gaia's side? Over a little banter? Is this how petty you are?"

"I'm only on one side, and it's neither Gaia's nor Guardian's." My eyes flick back and forth between my two old teammates. "I'll stop Salvation without killing the Key, and the supernatural's secrets will be revealed to the world. None of you will be able to hide any longer."

"The Bonfire Document." Nishikujou comes to a realization. "It was really you?"

"I made a small contribution."

"Oi, oi. Are you stupid or something? Do you know how much chaos you're going to unleash?" Imamiya gives me an incredulous look. "Do you really think Guardian and Gaia have kept their conflict secret for no good reason?"

"It doesn't matter. The world needs to know, and it'll be the normal human beings–the ones that make up most of the world–that will be the judge."

"That's too dangerous." Nishikujou raises her knives.

"Sometimes that is the only way."

"If you were going to come back with such crazy ideas," Imamiya raises his firearm, "maybe you should go back to sleep!"

Someone better than me would have found the perfect words to persuade them. The perfect words to persuade Guardian and Gaia to end their ancestral conflict.

But I didn't have those words.

All I could do right now…was fight.

In the blink of an eye I closed the distance between myself and Nishikujou, and with the flat of my blade, I send her flying. A quick dash, and I cleave Imamiya's pump-action shotgun into halves, right before knocking him out.

Of course, that was the easy part.

With my offhand I parry Esaka's swipe, before leaping backwards a safe distance away. "So you've come…Esaka-san."

"So I have, Tennouji." The grey-haired man favours me with a long look. "Imamiya-kun is right, you know. There will be consequences."

"We'll need to shoulder them."

Esaka says nothing for a moment, only examining me. Sizing me up.

I do the same. His hair was grey with the progression of time, but I doubt his skills had decayed. In fact, he had probably gained experience more than enough to make up for it.

"You've changed, Tennouji." His stance was relaxed, but I didn't let that fool me. "Your eyes now burn with spirit."

"I found what I wanted to do." I take deep, measured breaths. "Even if that makes me your enemy."

"So you fancy yourself a hero, then? Fighting against the world?"

"Someone like me isn't suited to be a hero." I smile again, rueful. "I'm just a soldier. For the cause that I found."

On Esaka's face was a mixed, conflicted expression. "I was worried that you'd returned in some half-baked state, but it seems your resolution is stronger than it ever had been." He raised his sword. "Despite how I know you're going to answer, I will still ask. One last chance."

"I'm not backing down."

"Then there is nothing left to be said."

[BGM: Remembrance– Rewrite & Rewrite Hf! Arrange Album "dye mixture"]

Back when I was in Guardian, I kept my abilities hidden. Both the ability to rewrite myself, and the full extent of my blood manipulation.

But I've never forgotten–well, technically I did forget once, but my days as the Earth-Saving Hunter were still in me. The incontrovertible truth of my past, etched deep within my heart.

And I've grown since then. Even if it was only a little bit.

My selves came together. My past, as a bitter, aimless youth. My present, a joker that wanted to know what 'youth' was.

Green and red met Esaka's sword, a flash of white.

Both Hitomi and Shizuru had relied on their superior specs as superhumans. Their attacks had been numerous, a flurry.

Esaka was different. In attack, his blade simply went straight for where you were weakest. In defense, his blade simply moved to protect where he was weakest.

A pinpoint striker, and a pinpoint barrier.

It didn't matter if Esaka wanted to kill me or not. If that blade touched me, I would die.

I countered another slash, and disengaged, leaping backwards. "Attacks should be simple and bold, huh?"

"So you really do remember." He eyes my swords. "I didn't expect you to have an ability like that."

"You told me I was honest to a fault, so I decided to try my hand at some deception." Despite everything, a smile comes to my face.

Don't turn everything into a gamble or a psychological battle.

That was sound advice. The more complicated something was, the more likely it was to fail, especially in the heat of battle.

And yet…

You couldn't just be simple and bold against something faster and stronger than yourself.

You had to use your head.

All this time, I had survived through my battles by using my head.

With no mentor around to guide me any longer, I had guided myself.

I charge forward again. In my mind's eye, I saw a thousand potential futures.

Imagination. Some scientists had said that it was how humans has survived.

You didn't need to try things out with your body in reality. You created a simulation in your mind, and if you screwed up, it was a simulation that died in your place.

I just needed to find the version of reality closest to the truth where I won, and follow that path.

Esaka's destructive sweeps came. I parry one, and dodge the other. The dagger of blood in my hand lengthens, shooting at him, and he sidesteps it, severing it with a slash.

I throw my last blood vial at him. He annihilates it and rushes at me, giving no time for anything but defense. I'm forced to counter with my claymore. The green-blue grinds with every slash, but it does not break.

It wouldn't break, as long as I willed it not to.

It was made out of my lifeforce.

No, that wasn't quite right.

It was made out of my lifeforce, and that of the Earth's. A connection with the Key that had formed, when Kotori had used its ribbons to save my life.

Disengage, and then engage again–

I try out many different attacks. I gauge his various reactions.

He must have been doing the same, because he begins closing in on me, each slash and thrust sending arcs of water into the air.

All this while, my instincts had been blaring at me, but now I truly began to feel the noose tightening around my neck.

Every single one of my attacks were blocked, parried, avoided, faster than before. Every time Esaka struck, I had to strain more and more to defend myself.

I was being driven into a corner, and it was too late to rewrite myself.

Was this…where it ended?

Every second felt like an hour. Every strike was a hammer blow on my consciousness.

I began to realise that there was no way out.

Not without taking a hit.

Is there nothing I could do, while slowly being whittled to death?

…give up?

That was not an option. Not even as a lie. As I was now, I couldn't pretend to be someone downtrodden any longer. Esaka would see through it in an instant.

It felt like I was being trapped in a paradox. A cat in a closing box.

Then, don't you simply need to tear it down?

That's right. Question your assumptions about the world.

Find the mammoth masquerading as a dog, the familiar appearing to be a human.

See through the lies your brain told you, and grasp at the reality beneath.

Esaka's sword comes in for another swing. A horizontal strike.

And…

I take a hit.

Esaka's strike had decades of experience and instinct honed to perfection.

Against that, all I had was my will.

But it was a strong will.

An earnest wish.

To see the future come. To reveal the truth.

To protect the answer I had found.

To protect…the place that I belonged.

Against my life that I had taken control of, Esaka's sword shatters, and his eyes widen in shock.

The strike sent reverberations throughout a body that had been forcefully held together. I cough up blood onto my mentor–and I immediately turn it all into needles, burrowing deep.

I twist to slam my Aurora blade against him, and–

–Esaka palm lashes out like a snake.

I fly through the air and slam against a tree. My vision swims for a moment.

Of course. Back then, he hadn't needed a blade to defend against my attacks.

Esaka's katana, with half its blade, comes towards me.

Only the range would be shortened. The destructive power would remain the same, superhuman ability making up for it.

I raise my left arm to block.

Now that I had tested how much force Imako's talismans could withstand, I could make use of them actively, turning defense into offense.

The second ofuda, stuck on my forearm, activated in response. My arm bleeds, but holds together.

My Aurora blade disintegrates, and I reform it into my familiar claw–something smaller, faster, more efficient.

With a duck down low, I stab at his undefended midriff, and Esaka lets out a sickening cry. My spilt blood coats my left fist, and I send all my power into the punch.

It is Esaka that is sent flying this time, into another tree.

But it wasn't the end yet. I pursue, and my Aurora blade stabs down, down, cutting the tendons of Esaka's legs. Now, he could no longer chase after me.

Utterly spent, I tumble and collapse on my side beside him. My blades disperse, and for a moment, there was nothing but the sound of the rain washing over us.

"I'm sorry, Esaka-san."

"You've surpassed my expectations, Tennouji. Well done." Despite the wound in his side, and the edge of pain in his voice, he spoke with a casual air, as if this was the end of just another lesson. "You look more like a real superhuman now. The pride you've had so little of…I can see more of it."

"I took your lessons to heart. Even after I regained my memory…I was still relying on them."

Esaka closes his eyes. "Is that so? I'm glad I could be of help…even if…in the end…I could not give you…what you needed." He groaned. "Go. There's not much time."

"Esaka–"

"Go. I'll be fine."

~~[r]~~

Another view

The velociraptor dispersed into dust with another Cross Scissor, but there was no time for relief.

Having to protect vulnerable targets is much more difficult than just being able to go all out!

Her heart dropped like a rock as she realised she missed another familiar–a wolf, midair in its pounce–

Her eyes widened as she spotted the hypodermic dart fly through the air and discharge its payload into into the wolf's side.

The familiar was gone before it hit the ground.

"Haha, it works! It's not so different from a normal animal after all!"

Hitomi turned to look at the man who had fired. The gun in his hand was makeshift, and there were a few other people with him–a woman, and a few children.

"Sorry!" she called out. "Could I trouble you all of you to remain indoors? There are dangerous monsters running about!"

The man's amber-gold eyes stared at her from under his dark hair. Hitomi felt a faint flicker of recognition, but it seemed it went both ways. "Shinsaibashi-san, are you?"

"Er, yes. I don't believe we've met…"

"I'm Inoue. Inoue Satoru. You're friends with my daughter?"

Hitomi blinked several times. "Yes." In a moment she formed an impression of him: a survivor, just like his daughter, and a sharp eye…also just like Akira.

A bit harsher, though.

"And an agent of Guardian?"

"I didn't do anything to her!"

"I wasn't implying that you did. Where is Akira?"

Hitomi took refuge in linguistic exactitude. "I don't know for sure."

"Your best guess, if you please."

"The top of that huge tree in the park." At the hardening of the man's eyes, the superhuman hurriedly continued. "You can't! That's the most dangerous place! Familiars will be swarming there. A normal human being like you–"

"Don't worry. I'm no fool." Satoru fixed his gaze–his glare–on Hitomi. "Could I trouble you to go in my stead, then?"

"That's where I was headed." Before I got sidetracked by trying to save civilians, anyway, Hitomi thought. "Kotarou is already there."

"I sure would hope so."

"Dear? Are you done?"

"Just about." The man turned to Hitomi. "We picked up a few lost children. No clue where their parents are. Any suggestions?"

"You should get in touch with this person." Under the awning at the building's side, Hitomi passed over Yoshino's number. "He's a normal person like you, but he's familiar with the ground side of things." Hopefully.

A explosion which sounded dreadfully close by sounded, and both the man and the girl flinched. "That's my cue to go." Hitomi hefted her swords yet again.

"It doesn't feel pleasant to send a girl as young as my daughter off into danger, but these are the times we live in." Satoru's voice was grim.

"Don't worry. I'm well-trained." Hitomi met the man's eyes, which were so much like her friend's. "If I may be so presumptuous, you should stay safe, Inoue-san. If you get hurt, I don't think Akira would be very happy."

"I know." The father watched the dark-dressed girl disappear into the rain. "I know."

~~[r]~~

Another view

"Let that man go, you beast!"

"It's the end of the world, little lady! What's wrong with simply giving a few an early sendoff?"

Lucia's sword paused in the air, and so did Shizuru beside her. As the rain continued to fall, steam shrouded the blond summoner in front of them, giving him a ghostly appearance.

The Class Rep debated asking her friend to use her ability again, but Shizuru still had not recovered from healing both of them since the clash at the school.

No other way than the old-fashioned one, huh?

"But I think I'll be content hunting a few hunters instead!"

"!"

The ground rumbled beneath her feet, and both Lucia and Shizuru leapt away as lava burst upwards in a plume.

"Shizuru!"

"Roger that!"

The twintailed blonde made to circle around to the summoner's side, but before she could do anything else, a distant scream that gradually grew louder reached her ears.

"aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAA!"

The car that Shizuru was standing on received a severe dent as something crashed into it. There was a whoosh of displaced air, and the bundle of white resolved itself into a white-cloaked girl, cradling a wooden staff.

All three combatants froze at the sudden incursion.

"It seems…ow…that my control…ow…still needs some work…" With another groan, Tanuma Imako straightened her glasses, before her expression stiffened as she realised exactly where she had landed.

"You!" Lucia and Midou spoke at the same time. Superhuman and summoner swivelled to look at each other in duplicate motions, and then the two turned to glare back at Imako once more as in perfect sync. Shizuru only cast a wary glance at Imako, and shifted into a wary stance.

On her part, the glasses girl pointed her staff first at Lucia…then at Midou. "Konohana-san. Nakatsu-san. You should start hurrying to Kazamatsuri City Park. Kotarou probably needs your help."

The two Guardian operatives flinched.

"You're siding with them, summoner?" Midou spat. "After everything?"

"Don't mistake me." Imako's eyes glinted behind her glasses. "There's only one side I'm on, and it's not Guardian's. Nor is it Gaia's."

The staff raised itself and pointed at Midou.

"You stupid, sheltered bitch." The red-hooded summoner spat. "You really know nothing, do you?"

~~[r]~~

Another view

"What dreadful weather."

Inoue said nothing. Indeed, for her first time on the rooftop of Kazamatsuri Cultural Hall, the view was terrible. On a better day, one would have been able to see across the city all the way to the fields and forests that lay beyond, but today, there was nothing but an ominous mass of dark clouds above, and sheets of rain so thick they were almost opaque.

Attendants, other secretaries of the Holy Woman, moved to shelter everyone with black umbrellas, Inoue being no exception. "Thank you," she reflexively said, but the woman only nodded.

Kashima Sakura didn't seem to take notice. Neither did Akane. Neither did Shimako.

All of them were seemingly unbothered by the rain.

On the landing pad, a helicopter was waiting, its spinning rotor overhead making a halo in the spray.

Inoue glanced down at her left arm. It was still wrapped in Kagari's ribbons, and she clutched the human-shaped familiar closer to her as they walked. If she had any doubts that Kagari was a familiar at this point, they were gone. The being beside her felt resolutely non-human.

All the plans that she had for espionage, for secretly recording videos or taking pictures–they were all out of the window. The gravity of the situation pulled her along, and all she could do was follow, a witness.

"Kashima!" The loud shout of a man reached her ears, and the group paused. "What on earth are you thinking?! Why have you ordered all the summoners to declare open war in the city?!"

She recognised this man's face from Martel's website—Suzaki Shuuichirou, the head of the faction opposing the Holy Woman. The man that modernised Gaia, and took a scientific approach to summoning. Accompanying him was a heavyset man with ears that vaguely resembled gyoza, which she thought she had saw before.

Behind her, Inoue heard Akane's tiny gasp. Akane doesn't know anything?

"I'm simply putting things in order. Bringing things to an end."

Nagai–no, Tsukuno, who had been pushing Kashima's wheelchair, made to move off again, but paused once more at Suzaki's shout.

"Wait! Where are you going?!"

"To a fitting place to welcome the end."

"Are you really going to…" Shock ripples across Suzaki's face. "Are you insane? Do you really intend to let the Key render judgement?"

Kashima makes a small movement with her hand, and Tsukuno turns the wheelchair around.

"You truly are a failure to the very end, Suzaki. Up until today, you haven't been able to perform summoning, haven't you?"

Anger and shock flashes both in the white-haired man's eyes. "Takasago! Stop them!"

The large man moves forwards, but what he would have done was anyone's guess, because a velociraptor descended upon him.

Inoue held Kagari tighter as the man was reduced to shreds of bloody flesh. To her side, Akane had her hand to her mouth, looking equally sick.

"Y-You…!"

"Until the very end." The Saint repeated herself. "Even your attendant, incompetent as he was, was able to contract with a familiar."

"The Key should only be a tool to monitor the state of the world! Who would actually wish for the apocalypse?!"

A pistol emerged from the interior of Suzaki's coat–

–but against the familiar that was already there, he may as well have been a tortoise against an unresting hare.

The sounds of flesh being ripped and torn apart started once more. Despite the gristly scene, Inoue could not tear her eyes away.

The man's dying words, a low gurgle, reached her ears through the rain's patter.

"S-Sakura…"

"So many long years in Gaia, and you have not learnt and understood a single thing. Nobody understands anything. We preach and preach, and only a few come close…to the truth." Kashima fixed her attention on Inoue again. "Did that shock you, young one?"

Inoue, petrified with terror, could not respond.

Seeing carnage through a screen did not prepare one for the real thing.

"Violence. Strife. Suffering. This is the basis of the world. All life is predicated on suffering. The bear feeds upon the salmon. The trees and flowers vie for sunlight and rain. The boars and bulls gore each other for the right to mate. And humanity…" Kashima holds her hands to the clouded sky, "is not exempt from all these sins and burdens."

Inoue still said nothing. Her eyes darted to Akane, but the black-dressed girl didn't say a word.

"Yes," Kashima continued. "Not even you."

"What," Inoue said in a shaking voice, "do you mean?"

She was acutely conscious of the fact that she could die at any minute. At any moment, Kashima Sakura could change her mind, and decide to have her killed. Just like…

"You have a lover, do you not?"

"Yes."

"Have you not thought about the other people he could have chosen instead? Have you spared a thought for all these others?"

Kotori's crying face came to her mind. "I…"

"With every winner comes a thousand other losers. With disparity comes suffering, as humanity lies and murders and steals in order to reach the apex. To win in service of themselves. To force their ideals and will on others." The old woman pauses to inhale. "At long last, we shall be free!"

Inoue turned to Akane with a pleading look.

"Why look at me like this?" Akane's empty eyes stare back at her. "Didn't you want answers to all your questions?"

~~[r]~~

The great tree was so close, yet so far away. At every step there seemed to a pair of jaws, or claws, or any of nature's other weapons, honed to perfection by summoner, turned against me.

Not just on the ground. In the sky, dinosaur-like familiars were swarming. It was incredible how much Gaia had in reserve, that they could bring all this out.

The song continued to resonate in my ears.

No time. There was no time left.

I wished I had more of it. I wished that I had done more. I wished that I could have regained my memories sooner.

"How about you think of this as a second chance? Let go of all your past mistakes. Live your newfound youth to the fullest."

But there was nowhere else but here. Nowhere to go but forwards.

No time for regrets, and no point in dwelling on what could have been.

At long last, I reached the foot of the tree.

In the treehollow, guarding the spiral of stairs that led upwards, was a familiar that I never wanted to see again.

The Earth Dragon.

One of Gaia's most ancient familiars.

I could feel it. Fatigue setting in.

Kirvoy Rog. Shizuru. Running about. Nishikujou and Imamiya. Esaka.

Fight after fight. Conflict after conflict.

Nowhere to go but forward!

I raised my swords.

If I had to fight a thousand enemies, so be it!

I use my ability on myself, increasing the oxygen capacity of my blood.

This was what I had. What I could do without rewriting.

My opponent was an ancient creature that no human had ever slain, that was now a legendary familiar that no superhuman had ever killed. There would be no ancestral memory, no knowledge, to guide me.

And I also remembered something else. It was–

The predator that had killed Mikuni, and so many others more talented than me–

Nausea came to my throat. My feet felt rooted to the ground.

This was bad. Real bad.

Consciously, I knew this was no different from any other strong familiar. Just another monster to be slain, just another riddle to be solved.

'No matter how great a familiar you create, it cannot change the world.'

No familiar was invincible. There was always a way.

But it didn't look as if I could follow it.

It seemed that my body had a will of its own. It remembered the fear I felt all those years ago–

Mikuni's mangled body, crumpled in a heap. The corpses of so many others, rookies and veterans alike, strewn around the forest clearing, mere toys to this behemoth–

Bad. Bad bad bad bad.

Keep fighting and you'll die someday. Even geniuses. Anybody. Even–

My higher reasoning fought my lower instincts.

I could fight against this. Had to.

Once more, I raised my swords in the air.

Humans evolved to think for a reason! I couldn't let me stop me, not at this stage!

If my instincts were working against me, then they had also become my enemy.

And I could change to beat any enemy.

I had to.

Had to.

I reached deep within myself–

"Tennouji!"

An all-too-recognisable voice cut into my consciousness.

"C-Class Rep?"

"Whatever you were trying to do, stop that." Lucia's sword made a swish as she drew it from its sheath, and she moved to stand beside me. "Even a fool could tell you were about to do something dangerous. And I would know."

The last sentence was a quiet mutter, but I still heard it. "Lucia, I–"

"Save it. Your girlfriend's up there, isn't she? It will be better if we fight together. Besides, fighting familiars is what Guardian was born to do."

"That's right, Kotarou." Another voice joins us.

"Shizuru. Even after what I did to you…"

"Just answer me." The blonde's voice was steadfast. "Do you think that what you're doing is right?"

"If I didn't think that, I wouldn't be doing it."

"I see. One more question." Pistols appeared, one in each of Shizuru's hands. "Do you still regard me as a friend?"

"Do I even have that right?"

"You do."

"Then, of course."

"You're still my friend. Akira too. Let's fight together, Kotarou!"

Strength returned to me.

I was no hero. I was just a soldier.

But I wasn't alone.

As one, we attacked.

Me straight down the front. Lucia peeling off to the side.

Shizuru opened fire, but of course this thing was bulletproof.

I call up every single bit of information I had on the Earth Dragon.

It had great mass, but was also agile.

It was intelligent, and knew how to deter hunters.

"Aim for the eyes, Shizuru!"

Even as I yell, the Earth Dragon was already turning. A devastating tail swipe sends my hair on end, and now the dinosaur's profile was only that of toughened hide.

It only had two clawed legs, and no arms whatsoever, but it could use its jaws to manipulate objects.

The behemoth's head dips down, only for it to whip up again. If I had been hit by that, I would have been tossed into the air, broken, and then finished off by those jaws.

"I…can't…get…near it!" Lucia grinds her teeth in frustration. "I just–"

A tail slams into her. Sparks fly into the air, and Lucia somersaults to land beside me again. The outline of her sword is a blur. High-frequency vibration.

But that ability isn't what I need right now. "Can't you use your other ability?"

"What?" Lucia turns to me in shock.

"Your Polluter ability. You can generate poison, can't you? It seems like that would be better than trying to cut through the thing's hide!"

Class Rep's face goes shifts through a kaleidoscope of emotions, before her face hardens. "That's right. That is something I can do, can't I? Shizuru!"

Shizuru lands next to me right as Lucia takes off her gloves–or tried to, as the Earth Dragon closes in on us.

Did it understand human speech? Did it overhear our plan?

"I won't even ask how you know about Lucia's other ability." Shizuru said. Her pistols continue to spit lead. "But her poison is very deadly. There's a chance that you might get caught up in it."

I catch a downward slam of the Dragon's tail. Even with my greatsword bracing the blow with calculated precision, I could still feel the bones in my joints rattle. I was being pushed to the limits of my rewritten self–again.

A sudden revelation strikes me.

What was I doing? This wasn't some RPG where I had to fight a boss to get through.

I just needed to get to the top of the tower.

My eyes scan the spiralling stairs. They were much too narrow for something of that familiar's size to climb.

"Can you–" I started to say, but was cut off by another attack.

Of course. Of course the lizard was intelligent enough to not give us time to plan.

Already, I felt my mind shutting down, my arms reverting back to pure instinct.

Not good.

A sudden explosion rocked the side of the hollow's wall, and a wave of pure force slammed into the Earth Dragon's head. Repeated blasts followed, and the large familiar, dazed, tottered for a moment against the ground.

"Go, go, go!"

Heeding Hitomi's words, I sprinted for the stairs, and her footsteps joined my own. "I'm sorry, Shizuru-senpai, Lucia-senpai!"

"Just go! We'll take care of things here." Lucia's gloves were off, and a strange determination was in her eyes. It was definitely something I didn't want to be on the receiving end of.

Imako joined us, and that was when I noticed her feet wasn't touching the ground…as well as her staff glowing a very luminous green.

"What–"

"Hitomi can explain. I'd offer to fly you both up there, but I might accidentally kill you, and that's not something I want to happen at this stage."

Without another word, she took off with another swirl of wind.

"Her staff is a familiar of living wood that can store life energy." Hitomi summarised with unusual brevity. "She said something else about a power spot and a druid."

"Kotori." I muttered. "That's dangerous. Does she know how dangerous working with pure life–she does, doesn't she?"

"She's certainly more qualified than either of us. Especially you. Look!" Hitomi poked at a hole in my ripped sleeve.

On my arm that I had used to block Esaka's slash, there was a small patch that now resembled wood next to the healing flesh.

"I guess this is my limit as a human being." I gave a grim smile.

"Wrong." The superhuman's voice cracked like a whip with uncharacteristic harshness, and I looked up to her face. "This is your limit. Period."

"You know about the cost?"

"It wasn't a hard riddle to solve, once she told me what that green stuff was. You rewrite yourself any more than this, and you'll no longer be human." The cutter kept speaking even as we ran. "So I'm not going to let you. Both for your own sake, and for Akira-senpai's sake."

When she put it that way, I couldn't really say anything in reply.

To my surprise, Hitomi continued speaking. "So I'll work harder. To pay my debt to the both of you."

"Debt?"

"Maybe not a debt. Call it a repayment for a blessing. The blessing that allowed me to meet Imako." She looked ahead. "That gave me the courage to be a hero. Do you know the writings of an Aleister Crowley?"

A memory that seemed like it was from ages ago surfaced. "I think Akane mentioned him once. He's a magician, right?"

"As expected of an Occult Club President. And, I suppose, a summoner of Gaia." Hitomi shot me a grin. "Yes, he was a magician. And he wrote many things on the occult. But there's one quote of his in particular that I like."

The superhuman's gaze flashed up to the ceiling, and then right, to a view that overlooked the entirety of Kazamatsuri. "'Every man and every woman is a star.'"

"The heck…does that mean?" I panted. The long climb was beginning to wear on me.

"It means that each and every person is precious. That each and every person has a role to play, and that each and every person has the potential to change the world." Hitomi looked over her shoulder at me. "So, thanks."

"Thank Inoue. She's the one that…" My voice broke off, and I fought off a wave of overwhelming feelings.

I couldn't afford to get emotional right now.

No, that wasn't the case. I simply just needed to not let my emotions lead me astray.

They were part of being human. It meant that I…was still human.

It is as if he knows nothing else.

A demon. He is a demon in Human form.

I think of a cherry blossom. I think of a tiny sprout in the ground. "Hey, Hitomi. Do you think Inoue would still love me if I became a tree?"

The blue-haired superhuman laughed. "I think that goes without saying."

Above us, the spiral stairs continued upwards.

~~[r]~~

Another view

Inoue stepped out of the helicopter. The platform beneath her was made of a strange hard transparent material, like glass or crystal.

On the series of concentric circles, white-robed disciples were already standing, still despite their soaked robes. Even through the sound of rainfall, their low chanting in unison could be heard.

"Kagari…" The name was a whispered prayer under her breath, but it would find no response.

As if in a trance, Inoue walked forwards.

Below her, the entirety of Kazamatsuri in dark predawn was still obscured by the rain. There was a flash of lightning, and then almost instantly, the answering rumble of thunder.

Kashima Sakura waved aside the disciple sheltering her, and, with some effort, removed her respirator's mask that had been put back on during the short trip.

Inoue squeezed Kagari's hand with her own. "Don't listen, Kagari. Whatever you do, don't listen to what she says–"

There was nothing else she could do. She was no hero. She had no superhuman ability, nor could she call a familiar to fight for her.

All she had…was a mission.

A mission that had ended up leading her into the depths of darkness, the depths of the human heart.

How foolish she felt now, at the end of the world, with the only thing she could do being to observe.

No. Not just a mission.

In her hand, Kagari's ribbon was as soft as silk, as strong as steel.

"Now hear me, o Key. Join your voice with our timeless chorus, and sing Salvation everlasting!"

"Don't listen!"

Kagari–the Key–opened its mouth.

A guttural scream emerged. It went on and on, until it became a single pure tone, weaving itself into the Song of Salvation.

"We thought it was strange, why Salvation was progressing so slowly." Kashima.

"It took us some time, but we finally came upon a probable cause." Akane.

"The Key is an avatar of the Earth, but it needed to adopt a form that humans could understand." Kashima.

"However, form always affects function." Akane.

"We learned from the Key, but the Key has also learnt from humans."

"Human constructs like family. Human emotions like affection." Akane stared at Inoue. "Necessary things for someone a being to learn, to understand their natural predators. And it worked."

"What are you saying?"

"What did the Key call you? 'Mama'?" Akane laughed. "Was that all it took? For you to want to protect it?"

"Kagari is…"

"Not human. But you knew that, didn't you?"

Yes. She had willingly let herself been deceived. Allowed herself, and closed her eyes to the hard facts.

From the start, the Key was not human. It would never be.

But it had acted in a role. A daughter, to complete a family.

Playing on human emotions. Playing on the instinct to protect.

She had accepted Kagari, and…

She thought about all those times Kotarou had reacted to the Key, and how she had calmed him down.

Stopping the Key from being killed by a hunter.

All because she had been called 'Mama', and Kotarou had been called 'Papa'.

"Yes. I see you've also realised it." Akane said smugly. "However, in perfect ironic fashion, the Key really has become attached to you–or at least, that is the most consistent explanation of its behaviour. Who knows what it is actually thinking, if you can call it thought at all?"

"What are you going to do?"

Slowly, the girl in the black dress walked towards the Key. "What do you think? We are going to restore it–the true form of the planet's judgement."

Akane's opened hand extended towards Kagari's forehead–

–and then Akane herself began to scream, her voice too joining in unison.

A flash of static bursts across Inoue's vision, and she felt the faint impression of images, too vague to make out anything.

A single phrase that came into her mind.

Bad memories.

Inoue looked down. Kagari's forearm was outstretched in front of her, right between herself and Akane.

"Is this the best you can do, o Key?" Words sounded in Kashima Sakura's wispy voice. "Why tell us…what we already know…?"

In contrast to the old lady's composure, Akane was clearly affected. Her screaming stopped, and she seized Inoue's shoulders.

This…might be bad. At this distance, Inoue was eyeball to eyeball to with the girl, and she could feel unstable emotion radiating from Akane's every pore.

"Do you finally see, you stupid little reporter? The truth of this world? Do you not see why it is we are calling for Salvation?"

"I…I know. But I can't agree."

There. She said it.

"You know but you can't agree?" Wild laughter escapes Akane's mouth. "Of course. You're simply a voyeur, looking in from the outside. Just like that fool Suzaki, you don't understand the yearning and the suffering that every single summoner possesses. How could you, with your privileged, peaceful life?"

Akane did a fancy twirl. Rain splashed on her, but she paid it no mind. "You have parents? Friends? Even…a lover? Then you will never understand the plight of those who are alone. You have a purpose? Self-actualization? Somewhere to belong? Then you will never understand those lost, cast out, and lonely."

"Yes." In a quiet, low tone, Kashima Sakura spoke, but not to her. "We are already…the same."

Inoue looked down. Beside her, Kagari's mouth was still open in a scream.

"Don't worry." Akane smile was nasty. "Through the power granted to Us, we can make you understand. The Key had memories of human strife from walking the earth in its current incarnation…but the Holy Woman has much, much more."

"We will open your eyes. Ye shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Kashima Sakura's words curled around her like a skeletal hand.

Before Inoue could react, an explosion sounded.

Two brightly-coloured velociraptors emerged, summoned from the other dimension, but they fell before they could do a single thing, the air itself rending the familiar-flesh with a thousand cuts.

There was a flutter of cloth, and feet touched down next to Inoue.

"Kotarou and Hitomi are on the way." Though Imako's tone was casual, a quaver in it betrayed her nerves.

"Tanuma Imako." Akane's black umbrella turned to point at the new arrival. "I had a feeling you would show up."

"How so?"

"I can trace the life force of familiars that approach me," Kashima Sakura made a small gesture, "as well as the life force of summoners that contract with my familiars."

Inoue blanched. So that was how they knew, huh?

"Your file was very interesting. Parents: Tanuma Hasato, Tanuma Kon (maiden name redacted.) Provisional researcher for the atmosphere research cluster. Health issues: respiratory hypersensitivity and mild anemia. Insomnia and irregular sleep reported."

Imako's staff pointed from Kashima to Akane.

"Do you really want to kill the Key? You're a summoner of Gaia. The Key is a representative of the Earth, after all. You would deny its judgement?"

"It's going to destroy the current world."

"And what's so bad about that?" Akane said. "Do you really like this world so much? This accursed realm, with so much disappointment and suffering?"

"Unfortunately for you, this cursed world has things I want to protect in it."

Despite her words, however, Inoue still noticed the hesitation in her friend's voice.

"Is that so? And what might those be? Don't tell me–you think this reporter over here is your friend?"

Imako paused.

"I'm sure she said many things to you." Akane's voice was almost gentle. "But make no mistake. She sold us the Key to try and learn summoning–"

"That's not what I did!" Inoue instinctively protested against the aspersions on her character.

"Come now, Tanuma Imako. Do you really believe this girl got to know you for noble reasons? There is only one thing she wants, and friendship is not it." Akane's hand was upturned in a nonchalant gesture. "You were just a means to an end. Just another 'source' for this reporter."

"I knew that."

Inoue felt as if she had been plunged into icy water.

"Yes," Imako continued. "Everything started because of the 'Messiah' business, right? They wouldn't have gotten to know me if I hadn't had those dreams…"

Akane nods. "Yes. You got made use of, but that's fine. Gaia will always welcome you. The Earth will welcome you back into its warm embrace, once Salvation is complete." Her head turned to face Inoue. "And for you, who only knows but doesn't feel, I will make you understand. You want the truth? You don't need to form a contract. I, who knows despair across a thousand lifetimes, will bestow upon you the fruit of knowledge myself!"

Akane's hand reached up.

In that single moment, the full width of Akane's intentions became clear to Imako. Light returned to the glasses girl's eyes.

"Don't do it!"

But Inoue was tied to the Key, and the Key was rooted to the ground. The only thing she could think to do was to dash forwards.

Placing herself between Akane and her friend.

"No! Imako!"

For the summoner in white, everything went black.

~~[r]~~

Kotarou's view

At long last, we reached the summit, and a surreal sight greeted us on the transparent, circular stage.

The white-robed Gaian choir, all unconscious or dead.

The decrepit mastermind, Kashima Sakura, dead, a slumped-over corpse in her wheelchair.

Club President and successor to the Holy Maiden, Senri Akane, collapsed on the ground.

Kagari, a girl we had come to know, the Key, standing like a puppet with still strings.

And Tanuma Imako, with her wooden staff, laughing maniacally.

Up here, there was no rain, but only the howls of a mournful wind.

"Kotarou…"

Innoway's voice called to me weakly, and Hitomi and I both ran over. "Are you okay?" She was sitting sideways on the floor, and she folded into my chest when I crouched down.

"Akane…did something." Inoue looked shaken, but she put effort into every word, giving us a succinct summary of what happened. "Showed…me visions. It was…I think Imako protected me from the worst of it. But now…"

"Visions? A forced hallucination? Mind control?" I glanced at Inoue's forearm, where a familiar ribbon was wrapped, joining her and Kagari–

–Kagari, who how had a staff sticking out of her chest.

"Imako!" Hitomi shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"Averting Salvation." The wooden point was withdrawn with a sickly squelch, and the Key collapsed to the floor, dead. "Isn't this what you wanted–what Guardian wanted?"

"But–" Hitomi looked torn.

"Make no mistake." The white-robed girl's voice was distant. "I didn't stop Salvation to save the world. Rather," she stared at us, "Mankind does not deserve to be saved. Turning into light and returning to the Earth's embrace? That's too kind a fate for everyone."

An unpleasant sweat ran down my back. "Don't, Imako."

The glasses girl chuckles. "The Messiah? Humanity doesn't deserve a messiah. What they deserve is a Destroyer that'll make everyone pay for their sins, and that is what I'll become."

"What's this, Imako?" Hitomi looked unhappy.

"People always betray." Imako's voice was brittle crystal. She clutched the staff to her chest with both hand, slightly bent over, as if she was about to cry. "In the end, no matter how hard we work…how hard I worked…nothing will change…"

Hitomi took a small step forward. I gently let go of Innoway, and prepared myself to fight once again. "Don't be stupid, Imako!" I yelled. "You know that's wrong! Look at what we've done! What you've helped us do! You've stopped the end of the world! We've revealed the truth to everyone!"

She only turns to point her staff at me. "And what happens afterward? War out in the open? Superhumans oppressing everyone else with their natural ability?"

"You don't know if that will happen for sure," Hitomi says. "Don't just pick a bad scenario and assume it's going to come true!"

"What about me?" Imako shoots back. "Am I to just become a nobody again? But I won't. I won't go quietly. Hear me, Anemoi Kaleo!"

A hum, a pure tone, sounded in the air.

What counts as 'life'? Humans, undoubtedly, were alive. Animals and plants as well.

What about the Earth? Was it alive? Most would say it wasn't.

And yet, the Earth was able to 'summon' a familiar. So maybe the Earth counted as something alive. A giant, living system.

Then, what parts of the Earth were alive? Is rock alive? How about water? What about the mountains and rivers, the hills and the seas?

What about the atmosphere? The air?

What about…a storm?

Above her head, the shape of a contract circle formed. It crackled and clicked…but it was a malfunctioning gear, a luminous green broken halo.

I could feel every single hair stand on end, by both physics and biology.

A crimson dagger of blood forms in my left hand, and a luminous green greatsword of Aurora forms in my right.

"That's a beautiful sword." Imako gives a quiet chuckle. "Your guiding moonlight, is it? By your side all along? That's so fitting, it almost makes me sick."

"It would be nice if you kneeled down in awe and we didn't have to fight." I joked.

"So you're just going to make a fool out of me? I'll kill you first!"

The wind howled like a pack of wolves, and the cloud-covered sky was black as night in the middle of the day.

There was a blur in the air, and she was right in front of me. Green met green.

"Clearly," I gritted out, "I failed that dialogue check."

The staff whirled about with more speed that Imako could have ever managed, and there was a clash of metal on something as the cutter's swords failed to cut through wood. "Of course you did, senpai." Hitomi's voice was casual. "Only I unlocked the Imako-chan route."

"I'll kill you too!" A localised explosion sent both of us flying back, but Hitomi casually recovered with an acrobatic cartwheel.

"You're living in fear, Imako." The superhuman's voice had turned serious once more. "You're making up bad things that can happen, then confusing your delusions with the truth! Snap out of it!"

"Am I? Am I?" My blades, both blood and Aurora, meet a wall of solid air. "What Akane-san said was the truth, wasn't it? Everything was just all pure, dumb luck!"

"So what if it was?" I yelled. "We're still your friends in the end, aren't we?"

"It was all luck! I'm not stupid enough to believe in it!" A whirlwind spins me on my feet, but Hitomi rushes in before a follow-up strike. "You don't know me, Kotarou! Nothing good has ever happened to me without me sacrificing something else! Without me working myself half to death for it!"

Twin swords grate on an Aurora-clad staff once again. "You're living in fear." Hitomi repeats herself. "You're afraid of being happy!"

"So what if I am! If someday, I was going to end up back where I started…then it would have been better for me to not know happiness in the first place!"

Another explosion. This time, razor winds follow it, and I angle my body, letting them pass harmlessly to either side.

"I wish I had never met any of you!"

Imako vanishes, and for a fraction of a moment I could not comprehend what I was seeing.

A crescent of Aurora, and I was in its curve. A curved blade of light.

Right in front of…my neck.

Time slowed. I shift blood and Aurora back to claw form, and raise my forearms to block.

Green light grated on green light.

"That's right…" the summoner said from behind me. "Once this is over…Akira and Kotarou will get tired of me…and Hitomi…will find someone better…"

I slip the lock, but only twist my body barely in time to meet the fist of God.

I land in a heap right next to Inoue. "Shameful display," she joked.

"I'd like to see you fight her," I grumbled, but not seriously. "Can't you think of some magic words, o great reporter?"

"Unfortunately, I don't think she'd be in the right mind to accept any." My girlfriend's voice was sombre. "And…what Akane showed me was bad. To tell you the truth, I'm probably going to have nightmares after this."

"Damn." There was nothing else I could think of to say."

"Not to mention, that girl's heart is weak." Inoue nodded to where Hitomi and Imako were clashing. "I noticed it back in the archives, how she reacted to the Holy Woman's relic. I hate to tell you to do this–"

"What, resort to violence? I don't think you've ever had qualms about that."

"I mean beating up a friend, you stupid idiot!"

"Less flirting, and more helping!" Hitomi skidded to a stop next to me, her swords held up in a bracing cross in front of her. "Do you really think this is a walk in the p–"

All my hair stands on end, and I grab Inoue and leap.

A moment later, lightning burst from the heavens and struck. It was not at all like in video games, a neat little bolt, just another elemental type.

It was a blast of pure power. I felt my skin singe even from a distance away. "What are you doing, you idiot?!" I yell at Imako. "You could have seriously hurt Inoue!"

"If that is what will make you take me seriously–"

"Believe me, I'm fighting for my life here." It was Hitomi that spoke. "But you don't actually want to kill us, do you?"

"She doesn't!?" I choked out.

"You can manipulate air, can't you?" Hitomi said. "I know you're creative enough to come up with better uses for all that power. You could have suffocated us with vacuum, crushed us to death with pressure–"

"Stop giving her ideas, damn it."

"Look at where we are. Up in a magical tree five hundred metres in the air. You could have just blown us off this arena and sent us plummeting to our deaths."

"I–"

"But instead, we're fighting hand-to-hand like this." Hitomi flicks out her swords, and her black Gaian robe flutters in the air. "There's something you want to tell us, but you're too afraid to speak aloud." She levels a curve of metal at Imako. "Which is fine. I love fighting. I'll fight with you until you're satisfied, then peel you layer by layer until I get to what's really in your heart!"

Damn it, Hitomi. I wince to myself. Lay off the light novels, will you?

"!" There was no time for Imako to respond. Metal cut through the air–and through Imako's barrier.

And through the flesh of Imako's arm.

Hitomi's eyes widened in surprise, only for her to be sent flying once more, as if swiped by the tail of an invisible dragon. Aurora light glowed in an instant, and the torn flesh became whole once more.

I charged in, keeping my centre of gravity low, but a sweeping blast forces me to abandon that strategy almost immediately. I leapt into the air to evade–

–and immediately, the razor wind comes.

I could only block, crossing my forearms in front of me once again.

Pain assaults me. The furthest two finger of my left hand were now mangled, and the idle thought that I should have studied more biology to better make use of my ability came to mind.

"Just give up." Imako's voice was dead. "Give up on this world, who isn't worth saving. Give up on me." Her shoulders shook, and tears followed the lines of her cheeks. "Give up on the girl that, when confronted with the worst memories of humankind, was selfish enough to only think about herself!"

There was a guttural sound, and Hitomi spits out blood. "Bruised ribs. I'll be feeling that in the morning." She raises her swords again. "But at least we're getting closer to the truth. Aren't we, Imako!"

The summoner screamed. Lightning struck down all around, chaotically, randomly, the radiance dazzling my eyes.

"Yeah, that's the Imako I know." Hitomi walked forwards, unflinching. "An anxious mess of a person with no social skills, a hikikomori in the making." More lightning struck, and the superhuman cartwheeled out of the way, an effortless evasion.

"Then just say you'll end it!" The wind shaped itself into a piercing lance, many piercing lances, and launched themselves at Hitomi. "Just kill me! Kill this selfish, useless being right here!"

Dodge, dodge, parry.

"What Midou said was right! I didn't know anything at all! Nothing about true suffering! And yet! I can still only think about myself!"

"I don't care about that, honestly," I remark. A gust pushes me back, but I stand firm. "Do you remember that day in Saez?" I yell. "Do you remember what you said?"

"I stand by it! At the end, nobody understands us summoners! The only salvation from this eternal cycle is death!"

"Not that." I block, but I could feel myself gaining ground. "You said if we wanted to us to be friends, we would have to grant your requests." I smirk. "And we did. You got a hug from Inoue, and we gave you information on Shinsaibashi Hitomi. By the fulfilment of that contract–"

"And you still won't let me die!"

"That's the one thing we can't fulfil."

"Then you're useless!" The staff tilts, and Imako stares at Hitomi. "What about you, Shinsaibashi Hitomi, superhuman of Guardian? Will you grant my request?"

"I refuse." Hitomi's voice was merciless. "Honestly, I don't understand your point of view at all. I can't even imagine what it's like to be someone so unfortunate." She pushed. "I was watching you. People never smile at you, but they always smile at me. I've never seen you talk with others, yet people always seem to want to talk with me."

Where the hell are you going with this, Hitomi? I cursed silently, looking for another opening.

"Unlike you, I don't have regrets. Not joining Guardian, nor betraying it for my own ideals. I don't regret the gifts that I've been given, and I would never turn down having a blessed life. I do like how I look, and being able to make friends so easily with the people that I want to."

"Then–!"

More wind, more lightning, and swords clashed against staff once again, four against one.

"Don't run from your happiness! Don't run from the people that accept you!" I yell. "So what if you've made mistakes? So what if the world is cruel? You can change yourself! We can change the world!"

This time, my greatsword sends Imako flying. As she tumbles in the air, she raises her arms to the heavens.

Electric charge gathers, and godly wrath pours down.

"Do you know why I regret nothing, Tanuma Imako?"

This time, Hitomi leapt to meet the lightning.

"It's because I could become someone you fell in love with!"

It struck her. For a moment that was all both Inoue and I could see: the outline of the superhuman in midair, feet tucked in mid-leap, swords raised, wreathed in the radiance of electricity.

Then, 'something' swept through the air.

It struck Imako. She collapsed.

With a dangerous-sounding shing, one of Hitomi's paired swords spun along the floor, sliding to a rest at my shoe.

There was a thump as Hitomi herself collapsed, her body sideways, curled up, her arms outstretched.

Imako's arms too were outstretched, but it was in a pose resembling a more famous messiah.

For a moment, in the sky, there was absolute silence.

I dismissed both blood and Aurora, letting the former splash down and the latter evaporate, then hesitantly extended a fingertip to touch the resting blade.

"Youch!" It was red-hot.

"Stop messing about, Kotarou, and help me over to them!" Inoue was already calling me, and I walked over to her, upon which my legs promptly folded from beneath me, and I half-collapsed, half-stumbled onto my sideways-sitting girlfriend.

"Useless." My girlfriend shook her head, but there was a wide smile on her face.

"I'm sorry I had to run up more than a thousand flight of stairs to reach you, Your Highness."

We limped our way over to the pair. Imako was moaning. The glow of her staff, laying a distance away, was more faded than it had been before, and even if there was any energy left to be used, it didn't look as if Imako was going to fight any longer.

"Help me closer."

I set Inoue down, right next to Imako, upon which she gently took off the glasses from her face.

"Hey, what are you–"

There was a punch. Not a heavy one, given the circumstances, but a punch to the face was a punch to the face.

"I'm sorry." Inoue rubbed her fist. "Kind of frustrating to only get to watch from the sidelines, but this makes up for it."

"I…I…"

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Inoue shouted. There were winces all around. "WERE YOU THINKING? YOU ALMOST KILLED ALL OF US!"

"I…I…"

"I'm sorry…" the summoner says weakly. "I…"

"Actually, don't say anything." Inoue shakes her head. "You took the…whatever it was…for me, didn't you? The Holy Woman's bad memories?"

"I'm…sorry…" Imako manages to get out. "Should have…done something smarter…rather than…get in the way…"

"Shut up." Inoue gives the summoner a quick hug. "Wow, you smell of ozone."

"What the hell was that?" I turned to Hitomi and demanded. "Lightning redirection?"

"Once it popped into my head, I couldn't resist doing it." Hitomi had not an ounce of shame. "Summoners break the laws of physics all the time, so I wanted to see if I could do it as well."

"You–I don't even want to ask."

Overhead, the storm was already clearing. Sunlight began to filter through the clouds.

Gingerly, before I even consciously thought about it, I began to lower myself to the ground. Gentle hands grabbed my head and steered it towards something soft.

"A lap pillow?"

"The least I could do." Inoue's smiling face was right above mine. "You were, after all, very impressive."

There was another moment of silence. "What's going to happen now?" I ask. From where I lay I could see a collapsed Akane, as well as the form of Kashima Sakura in her wheelchair–not to mention the Disciples all around.

As for Kagari…the Key…there was no trace of it. Her corpse had vanished, dust in the wind.

In the end, there were still some mysteries that we couldn't solve. Some solutions that could not be checked.

And many more things that we would need to answer…and answer for.

"That's the big question, isn't it?" Inoue gazes at the sky, her hands comforting against my hair. "We exposed a lot. A lot of secrets." She gazes at Imako. "A lot of things that people would rather stay hidden. Honestly, I didn't think things through this far."

"Then, we'll just have to deal with things when they happen, won't we?"

This is end of Inoue's main scenario in Spirit of Fire, Seeker of Truth. To speak honestly, the ending was one of the first few parts that I wrote. Had to make a few changes here and there, but this was always the final destination.

In the blink of an eye, two years have passed. Like Kotarou himself, there were some things that I realised too late and couldn't do, but this is enough–for now. At the very least, I hope you enjoyed it.

Moon and Terra will be posted tomorrow, and an somewhat-distant (but not too distant) epilogue for some loose ends some time after that. And who knows? There might be more bonuses.

Whether you picked this up at the end or read along as it updated–

Thank you for reading my fic.