Chapter 60 - Great Twilight
7.18.1206 - Tuesday (The Day After the Incident)

It was pure chaos.

Things seemingly were only getting worse at what formally was known as the Karel Imperial Villa. The Branch Campus students were fighting the Main Campus Students, led by Fritz and Aya. Towa and Michael oversaw their fighting, giving out orders to prevent as much injury as possible on both sides. Agate and Tita did their best to fend off Leo and Xeno. Randy fought against the members of the Red Constellation present, with Tio providing him with support spells from a safe distance. Meanwhile Rean and the rest of Old and New Class VII, sans Millium, Altina, and Ash, shielded Emma, Celine, Roselia, and Thomas as they focused their magic to create an opening through the barrier.

As Towa finished up casting healing and defense buff skills on her students, she noticed a familiar presence walk out onto the battlefield: the person she had known as George Nome. The truth had already gone out, that he had been involved with Angelica's disappearance. Along with his true allegiance.

"Why George!? Since when were you part of the Black Workshop!? And… where's Angie!?" Towa yelled.

"George? I'm afraid I no longer need to answer to that name, my true name is Copper Georg. I've been a part of the Black Workshop from the beginning. Way before I was even the Professor's apprentice. I was born into the Gnomes. And Angie… she's dead." Georg bluntly answered.

"That's a lie!" Towa responded before giving orders to the Branch Campus students.

Georg watched as Towa gave out orders, it was clear that she was overexerting herself during the battle. It was obvious that the stress of everything going on was starting to get to her.

"I know Angie, Crow, and you better than anyone! You've got her locked up somewhere in your headquarters, don't you!? There's no way someone like you, someone who helped Crow, would let Angie die!" Towa continued.

"Sigh. If you know me so well, then I'm sure you're expecting this, right!?" Georg responded before ordering his combat shell to attack Towa.

Towa took a defensive position as she watched Georg's combat shell charge at her. Before she knew it however, Rean broke formation and ran up to her to shield her from the combat shell's attack. He was able to quickly cut off one of the combat shell's arms.

The combat shell quickly retaliated by using its other arm to punch Rean in the gut, causing him to cough up a bit of blood before wiping it off with his coat.

"Rean!" Towa responded before the combat shell went in for another blow.

Luckily Michael was able to ready his rocket launcher and shot the combat shell, causing it to retreat back to Georg. It was clear that it was now in no condition to fight any longer.

Before Towa could cast a healing spell on Rean however, he began to slowly fade away as Emma, Celine, Roselia, and Thomas finished casting their teleportation spell.

"Don't worry, Towa. I'll have someone heal me up inside… Please-" Rean tried to assure Towa before Georg's combat shell started firing at them.

Towa responded by shooting at it with her orbal gun, resulting in her being too distracted to listen to what Rean had tried to tell her before fading away along with the rest of Old and New Class VII.

Seeing as his combat shell was in critical condition, Georg ordered it to retreat so that he could repair it after the battle. Seeing an opening, Towa charged at him while she prepared her orbal gun.

"Copper Georg here, I'm requesting back up." Georg ordered using his ARCUS as he watched Towa charge at him.

"Where are you keeping Angie!?" Towa yelled as she fired her orbal gun.

"I already told you, Angie's dead!" Georg answered as he prepared to take Towa's attack head on.

Before Towa's orbal bullet could hit Georg however, someone teleported in front of him and deflected the orbal bullet away. It was none other than Azure Siegfried.

"Siegfried!? What are you doing away from your station!?" Georg responded.

"Relax, will ya? Sharon agreed to call me once Class VII arrived, so I'm free to defend you. For now." Siegfried answered before turning to Towa.

Towa stood frozen as she stared at Siegfried. With her now knowing the truth about them being a resurrected Crow, she wasn't sure if she was happy that he was alive or fearing for her life now that he was completely under the control of the Gnomes.

"What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost." Siegfried joked as he prepared his orbal guns.

Towa reminded herself that even though they shared the same body, that Siegfried wasn't Crow. Rean had already tried and failed to jog their memory by talking to them while in battle. Her main priority was to fight him off in case he decided to start attacking her students.

Towa and Siegfried began to start shooting each other with their orbal guns while Georg retreated behind cover and summoned his combat shell so he could repair it while Siegfried kept Towa occupied.

Siegfried wouldn't be there for long, word had already gotten through that Class VII had already gotten past Lianne and McBurn and that they were making their way to where he was originally stationed at, along with Sharon, Shirley, and Rutger.

Thanks to his twin guns, Siegfried was able to get a few good hits in on Towa. Luckily she had cast multiple defense buff spells on herself that nullified the majority of the pain. Although she couldn't help but notice that the majority of Siegfried's shots were missing her, she concluded that Rean might've left a number on him after their previous fight. Which would explain his poor aiming skills currently.

Knowing that it was time for him to return to his station, Siegfried used one of his crafts to shoot at Towa with more force, which she was able to easily see coming and deflected it back. Before his attack could hit him, Siegfried dodged it. Only for his attack to hit Georg in the shoulder instead.

"What the hell!?" Georg questioned.

"Sorry, friendly fire." Siegfried responded, with a noticeable smirk on his face.

Georg couldn't help but notice that even after the manual reboot, Siegfried had been showing a bit more of Crow's personality than before. It was something he'd been meaning to look into once he was no longer busy.

"Just got a message on my ARCUS from Sharon, looks like Class VII is just around the corner. Well, back to my post. Don't worry, I'm sure that there's a certain someone still available to provide you with back up." Siegfried informed Georg before teleporting away.

Towa quickly determined that it was now or never to neutralize Georg, and began to make her way towards him as he hid behind cover while she prepared her orbal gun.

Georg knew that his combat shell still wasn't in a state to fight, and with everyone now busy he had only option left.

"For the last time, where's Angie?" Towa questioned as she aimed her orbal gun at Georg's combat shell, expecting him to use it against her again as his last form of defense.

"You're going to regret this." Georg asked.

Towa suddenly felt someone teleport behind her. Before she could turn around and shoot at them, they swept her legs, causing her to fall to the ground and drop her orbal gun.

"What the? Wait… No…" Towa said to herself before turning over and looking up to see who had answered Georg's plea.

"This chick was giving you and Siegfried such a hard time? She's clearly out of her element here on the battlefield." the masked woman commented.
Towa immediately realized that it was Angelica, but now wearing a mask.

"A-Angie!?" Towa shouted as she grabbed her orbal gun and stood back up.

"Angie?" the masked woman replied.

"I've already told you, Towa. Angie is dead. This here is Red Rossweisse. Our- no, my latest addition to the Black Workshop." Georg revealed.

"That mask… it's just like the one Crow has on…" Towa said to herself as she slowly backed away.

"It was the only way for me to save them. You saw what happened to Crow when he disobeyed orders given to him by Duke Cayenne back during the Civil War, he died in your and Angie's arms because of it. With these masks, they're all complacent. No need to worry about them disobeying orders and facing the consequences for it." Georg revealed.

"You're robbing them of their free will!" Towa countered.

"They'd be dead if it were not for me developing the masks. Crow was too unruly to let run around once he healed from his wounds, we were originally going to keep him in a state of hibernation. But then we finished constructing our first mask, and used it on him. It was a success, creating Azure Siegfried. As for Angie, she found out too much and needed to be dealt with. I was ordered to kill her, but I couldn't do it… I just couldn't get rid of the perfect test subject for the redesigned masks. So I shot her in a non-lethal area. As you can see, the test was a success. Creating Red Rossweisse." Georg continued.

"You shot Angie!?" Towa responded.

In a fit of genuine rage, Towa raised her orbal gun at Georg and pressed the trigger.

Luckily for Georg, Rossweisse was faster and shielded him from Towa's attack. Taking the blow herself.

"Angie! Are you okay!?" Towa shouted upon realizing what she had done.

"Oh please, little lady. I've been itching for a fight. You're a cruel man Georg, keeping me cooped up in a lab when I should be out on the battlefield." Rossweisse commented.

"I know." Georg commented.

Towa casted a healing spell on herself, knowing full well that she was about to have the fight of her life.


Soon Towa found herself at the end of her rope. She obviously couldn't fight Rossweisse, so she had resorted to getting as far away from her and Georg as she could.

Thankfully Rossweisse used many of the same techniques she'd seen Angelica practice in the past, which served as good reference material to know how best to dodge her attacks now.

Due to how far away the three of them were from the others, she used her ARCUS to message Michael and Randy to look over their students while she dealt with her friends. Along with ordering them to retreat with the students at the first sign of trouble, with or without her.

Unfortunately, with how much running she was doing, Towa was starting to get tired. There was only so much she could do before Rossweisse and Georg caught up to her and initiated proper close combat.

Luckily, hope soon arrived in the form of the Courageous.

Towa couldn't help but notice that Georg was looking away from the airship.

Suddenly, just as Towa was beginning to feel a bit of relief, the Courageous blew up in front of everyone. A sense of dread could be felt by everyone present, even members of Ouroboros were shocked as everyone stopped what they were doing while they watched the remains of the Courageous fall into a nearby canyon.

Olivert, Toval, Victor, and everyone else onboard the Courageous were seemingly killed in an instant.

Towa was in disbelief at what she had just witnessed, she immediately fell to her knees as she tried to process what was going on.

"Did… Did you do that, George?" Towa questioned as she turned to Georg and Rossweisse.

"Now do you believe me? I'll say it again. Angie is dead, only Red Rossweisse remains.

"That's a lie! You're lying, George! A-Angie is just fine! She and Crow will break free from those masks' control! F-For all I know you're using smoke and mirrors! E-Everyone… Everyone will be fine! No, everyone is fine, I just know it! Rean's going to stop all of you!" Towa shouted as she got back up.

"You're right, everyone will be fine. I'll use these masks to save everyone! Just think of how much more powerful Rean could become if a mask was able to gain control of his ogre powers!" Georg responded.

"Shut up! Don't you ever lay a finger on Rean! I-I'm tired of all this! T-This has to be some kind of bad dream…" Towa yelled as she got into formation to perform her S-Craft.

Towa didn't ever want to use her most powerful attack on her friends, but it was clear that this was her last resort against the two people standing in front of her.

"Rainbow Shot!" Towa shouted as she began to press her orbal gun's trigger.

"Rossweisse, initiate Plan Stella Limiter!" Georg quickly ordered.

Georg always knew that Towa would be the last member of Proto Class VII to stand against him. In response he had integrated a strategy into Siegfried and Rossweisse's masks that would prioritize neutralizing Towa. If she would not join them, be it with a mask or not, then she would have to be rendered incapable of lending her aid elsewhere.

Before Towa could pull her orbal gun's trigger, Rossweisse dashed towards her and kicked it out of her hands. Thinking on her feet, Towa pulled out her ARCUS so she could cast an offensive spell instead.

However, before Towa was able to cast a spell, Rossweisse tightly grabbed onto the hand she was holding her ARCUS in.

"A-Angie stop! You're hurting me…" Towa begged as Rossweisse's grip got even tighter.

It was no use, the only people Rossweisse would take orders from were Georg and Alberich.

"A-Angie, please!" Towa continued before hearing something crack and letting go of her ARCUS.

Georg watched on as Towa fell to her knees, shrieking in pain while trying to use her other hand to reach for her ARCUS and cast a healing spell on herself.

"That's enough." Georg commented before ordering his combat shell to pin Towa to the ground.

"Let me go…" Towa demanded as she struggled to reach out and grab her ARCUS.

Towa knew that it was futile, especially with her dominant hand being fractured thanks to Rossweisse, but she couldn't give up. Not with Rean and the others still fighting inside.

"Don't bother fighting, things aren't going well inside anyway." Georg advised.

"W-What do you mean?" Towa questioned.

"Have a look for yourself." Georg replied before picking up Towa's ARCUS.

While he was visiting Leeves a few months ago, he had installed a virus created by the Black Workshop that granted him and the other Gnomes admin privileges to all the school issued ARCUS II units Aurelia had given to all the faculty and students. With a little tinkering he was able to set up an automatic video call with Rean's ARCUS, which showed him currently sitting inside Valimar's cockpit. Along with another video call with Siegfried. Although it was from their ARCUS unit's outer camera, which gave a better look of what was going on inside.

"Here you go." Georg informed Towa as he placed her ARCUS in front of her so she could see for herself what was going on inside.


Rean watched as Millium began to fade away as he held her in Valimar's hands, her last words echoing in his head.

"Heh… Yay… I… did it… Right?" Millium had said after getting slashed by the Black Holy Beast.

It was all too much for Rean to handle. First Ash got arrested for attempted regicide, then the Ironbloods kidnapped Altina so that they can use her as a sacrifice, and now Millium just passed away in Valimar's hands after trying to protect him. He began to feel only two things: fear and anger. Fear for all of his students behind him getting out of their panzer soldats, fear for his classmates fighting foes including their resurrected classmate, and fear for the others outside, especially Towa. But it was his anger towards the Ironbloods, his anger towards the Gnomes, his anger towards Ouroboros, and especially his anger towards Osborne that overtook him.

Soon a large sword appeared in front of Rean and Valimar: it was the Originator Zero Sword. Instincts overtook them as they reached out and grabbed the sword.

Everyone watched on as a dark aura coated Rean and Valimar, before a monstrous growl similar to the ones that belonged to the monsters that they had fought in the past could be heard coming from inside.

Valimar quickly took a new form, one that could only be described as demonic. Inside the cockpit, Rean's rage induced ogre form also took on a more demonic look.

As the Black Holy Beast took a step back out of fear, Rean and Valimar used the Originator Zero Sword to cut off one of its front legs.

The Black Holy Beast shrieked in pain before Rean and Valimar continued their onslaught on them.

Everyone watched on in horror as Rean and Valimar mercilessly slashed the Black Holy Beast into pieces, all while they could hear Rean yelling at it with a blood soaked voice.

"Damn it, I should've stepped in sooner. This could have been avoided, but no. I just had to wait for the right moment to strike." Crow said to himself as he watched on.

Despite what Georg thought, he had failed to start the manual reboot process successfully. Meaning that Crow was free to collect his thoughts after regaining his memories. Knowing that the Gnomes were planning something, Crow pretended to still be Azure Siegfried until he saw fit to reveal himself. Following orders to keep everyone fooled, even if it meant he had to fight his former classmates for the last few days.

Knowing that things would only get worse, Musse ordered Juna and Kurt to go get Altina while the enemy was focused on Rean.

Upon Rean and Valimar landing the killing blow, the Black Holy Beast released a dark aura that pulsated across the entire Empire.

The Great One's Curse had been unleashed.

After absorbing the Black Holy Beast's life force, Rean and Valimar turned to face Osborne and Alberich and began to slowly march towards them.

Rean could've easily teleported instantly to them, but he wanted them to feel the same fear the Black Holy Beast did. And just like the Black Holy Beast, he wanted to make them suffer in their final moments.

As Old and New Class VII begged Rean and Valimar to stop what they were doing, Cedric looked up and signaled to the other Awakeners that they needed to step in.

No longer feeling the need to go with the Azure Siegfried identity, Crow took off his cracked mask and threw it towards Alisa, Sara, and Fie before jumping down alongside Rutger. It was his way of letting them know that Siegfried was no more.

"Heed my call, Ordine!" Crow yelled as all the Awakeners summoned their Divine Knights.

Crow and Ordine quickly grabbed Rean and Valimar from behind and held them back.

"Rean, you've got to get a hold of yourself!" Crow shouted as Rean struggled to escape.

Rutger and Zector were easily able to punch the Originator Zero Sword out of Rean and Valimar's hand, with Lianne and Argreion quickly purifying it from the corruption that had overtaken Rean and Valimar. Feeling that they had nothing to do, Cedric ordered Testa-Rossa to sucker punch Rean and Valimar to try and get them to behave.

Even after everything, Rean and Valimar still continued trying to escape Crow's grasp.

Having watched enough, Osborne decided that it was up to him to put a stop to Rean's current feral state.

"Fool. This won't help Millium rest in peace. Heed your master… Ishmelga." Osborne commanded as a Divine Knight teleported behind him.

"The Ebon Knight…" Lianne commented as Osborne got inside Ishmelga.

"It's about time." Rutger noted.

"Now six are assembled. Hahaha, as for the final one…" Rufus said to himself as the other Ironbloods tried to process what Millium had done.

Osborne and Ishmelga slowly made their way towards Rean and Valimar.

"Let go of them." Alberich ordered as he turned to Crow and Ordine.

As soon as Crow and Ordine let go of Rean and Valimar, Osborne and Ishmelga grabbed Rean and Valimar by the throat and lifted them off the ground. Due to their link, Rean started to feel pain in their neck as Osborn and Ishmelga tightened their grip around Valimar.

Rean began to yell once more as Valimar struggled to escape Osborne and Ishmelga's hold on them.

The other Awakeners watched as Rean and Valimar were finally able to escape Osborne and Ishmelga's grip. Once on the ground, they turned to Lianne and Argreion. Even in their feral state, they knew that they needed to take back the Originator Zero Sword if they wanted to harm Osborne and Ishmelga.

Without much of a plan, Rean and Valimar reached out to try and take back the Originator Zero Sword. Only for Lianne and Argreion to counter by using the Originator Zero Sword to cut off the hand Valimar used to reach out and take back the sword.

"It's a good thing we have enough material back at the lab to reattach that." Alberich thought to himself before turning to Crow and Ordine.

Rean shrieked in pain as he felt an extreme amount of pain in his dominant hand.

Crow kept quiet as Rean and Valimar knelt down to take in pain, it was too much for him. He knew that he had to do something, he needed to get Rean as far away from there as possible so that he could regain his sanity.

Just as Crow and Ordine took a step closer to Rean and Valimar, Alberich made an announcement.

"Halt Siegfried, or should I say Armbrust?" Alberich ordered.

"W-Who's Armbrust? My name is-" Crow responded before getting interrupted by Alberich.

"Oh please, do you expect to fool me? I noticed that you've been acting strange ever since I sent you and Georg to plant recording devices where Class VII was holding their reunion. I checked his reports and he admitted that you regained your memories, but that he'd initiated the manual reboot process. Of course, I should've known that Georg would've found a way to mess even that up. If my math is correct, you've crossed the line one too many times now. First, you regained your memories. Second, you've disobeyed orders either by going easy on your opponents, leaking information to Rossweisse's family, and leaving your posts. Third, you were going to betray us right now. That's three strikes, Armbrust." Alberich revealed.

The other Divine Knights quickly turned to Crow and Ordine, it was obvious that he'd have to fight them all if he wanted to escape with Rean.

"I can tell by that look in your eyes that you're expecting a fight, C. So be it, your opponent shall be… Rean and Valimar." Osborne ordered.

"What!? You honestly expect me to fight Rean and Valimar!?" Crow responded.

Osborne and Ishmelga turned to Alberich and nodded.

"Siegfried, initiate Plan Azure Rush and take care of the ogre." Alberich ordered.

Crow watched as his link with Ordine was cut off, and that they had begun to move without his input.

"Alberich, what the hell is going on!? Why can't I control Ordine!?" Crow shouted as Ordine pulled out their sabre.

It was clear that even Ordine wasn't able to control their own movement, it was clear that someone else was controlling them.

"Don't fret. Besides the manual reboot, I also installed a program that so long as you're under my control, I can use the emergency control of your Divine Knight however I please. I know how much you didn't want to fight your former underclassman, especially with how loyal of a companion you've been in the past. So just sit back and watch." Alberich explained.

"Make it stop!" Crow yelled as Ordine began attacking Rean and Valimar.

Not going down without a fight, Rean and Valimar stood back up before a dark aura engulfed them. They had no proper stance or technique, it was clear that Rean and Valimar were too far off the deep end to regain control and were fighting savagely.

If Crow lost his body to science, then Rean lost his mind to nature.

Old and New Class VII watched on as Rean and Valimar took hit after hit from Ordine's sabre. It was clear that none of Ordine's attacks hurt them as much as what Lianne and Argreion did to them.

Even though it seemed like Rean and Valimar would be able to last a while longer, Osborne concluded that Ordine was ready to initiate its counter attack to end the fight once and for all.

Crow begged Ordine to listen to him and stop as he realized what attack they were planning, but his plea fell on deaf ears as Ordine raised their sabre.

"Wait, Crow… Stop!" Old Class VII yelled upon realizing what the current scene reminded them of.

Everyone watched as Alberich had Ordine thrust their sabre directly into Valimar's abdomen. Rean immediately let out a monstrous cry, before abruptly going silent.

Juna, Kurt, Musse, and a barely conscious Altina were able to get a good look at Ordine's sabre as they pulled it out of Valimar's abdomen. The blood dripping from the tip was enough to make it clear to them why Rean had gone silent.

With Rean slowly losing consciousness, Valimar went limp and fell to the ground.

Once the deed was done, Alberich gave back control of Ordine to Crow. Along with the Divine Knight's consciousness.

"Crow… What have I done?" Ordine questioned as they saw Rean and Valimar lying on the ground in front of them along with blood stained sabre.

Crow was at a loss for words, unsure of what to tell his partner. All he could do was let his Divine Knight fall to their knees as they both tried to process what had happened.

Knowing that Osborne and Alberich would set their eyes on them next, Sara ordered the others outside to retreat before instructing Emma to teleport them away. Juna and Kurt watched as Musse broke formation and took out a feather that once belonged to Vita's familiar: Grianos. After having one last heartfelt conversation with her classmates and Emma, Musse casted a teleportation spell of her own before fading away. What remained of Old and New Class VII faded away distraught over not being able to do anything about Rean, Valimar, Millium, Crow, and Ordine.

Now only Alberich, the Ironbloods, and the Awakeners remained inside.

With Rean and Valimar now taken care of, Osborne and Ishmelga made their way over to them. Once again they grabbed them by the neck and lifted them off the ground.

"Now, Rean. Let us begin. Together, we shall write the end of this wretched fairy tale. In ink, black as despair. Give Kasia my regards." Osborne commented before teleporting away with Rean and Valimar.


Towa watched in disbelief as Rean and Crow's ARCUS finally disconnected from the video call Georg had started. The image of Rean's lifeless body after Ordine pierced Valimar's abdomen with their sabre burned itself into her mind. It was as if her nightmares had come to life. She quickly began to think back to Rean and Crow's fight outside of Trista all those years ago, and how history had repeated itself.

"I hate you…" Towa muttered as Rossweisse kicked her ARCUS away.

"What was that?" Georg asked.

"I said that I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! I HATE YOU!" Towa repeated as tears flowed down her face.

Georg took it all in. Crow indirectly told him when he had regained his memories, Angelica had muttered it before he applied the mask, and now Towa finally told him the same thing. It was relieving to hear them all say it.

"Thank you. I'm glad that you all hate me." Georg replied.

Despite her fractured hand, Towa tried to escape but was unable to. It was just too much for her. She was in too much pain, too tired, too stressed, and now grieving. Her body couldn't take much more of it.

As Georg and Rossweisse discussed what their next course of action should be, Towa finally gave up.

"Martha, Fred, Kai… Mom, Dad, Grandfather… Angie, Crow… Rean… I'm sorry… I just can't anymore… Forgive me…" Towa thought to herself as she lost consciousness.


"T-To-Towa…" Rean said to himself as he awoke in an ash filled field with a red sky.


Author's Note

Thus concludes the Cold Steel III Arc.

Not the happiest of endings, especially with the changes done here.

With another arc done, I just want to thank everyone who's continued reading. I love reading everyone's comments, knowing that people enjoy this fic that much to leave their thoughts.

With Cold Steel IV Arc I'm not sure if I'll be able to provide an frequent/consistent updates, but I hope you all look forward to reading those chapters as I am to write them!

Hopefully it won't take long before Rean and Towa are able to reunite!