The God of Light wasted no time in beginning its assault. With an odd, incredibly loud noise like a sharp inhale, the dragon opened its mouth and began to siphon energy from the atmosphere. Strange, multicolored wisps rose up from the water far beneath the platform and gathered as a ball of crackling energy in the jaws of the frenzied beast. Yet more of the flickering material seemed to dance through the air from the waterfalls spilling over the semicircular rocks beyond the platform, prompting Salem to address the Lamp of Knowledge directly as she held out the Staff of Creation and began manifesting magical walls before herself and Lora.

"What is it doing? What is all of that?"

"Pure aura," Jinn answered from within the Relic. "The 'waterfall' and pool below are made of life force, and they are swelling as more and more die from the meteors. He makes ready to attack using the very foundation of life itself- something we are unable protect you from. Waste no more effort erecting walls."

"But it is something we can use," Ambrosius added. "I think we're all actually on the same page, here."

"We likely are," Apoph replied, turning to face the other Relics as it hung down near Lora's ear. "It is with that energy in these crystal fragments that the God of Light managed to ensnare us. Turnabout is fair play. We need that energy ourselves to contain him!"

"And how do we gather such a substance?" Salem asked as she swirled the staff, finishing the construction of several layers of magical walls before herself.

"First, you get out of the way!" Ambrosius answered. "Don't try to stop it!"

Salem heeded the advice, taking to the air and propelling herself backward with a blast of magic as the sound of gathering energy fell silent for a mere moment. The noise that came after was deafening, coming from the dragon's mouth almost like a scream as a beam of concentrated aura manifested from the whirling ball. The stone of the platform exploded on contact as the God of Light thrashed its head about, carving through the stone and robbing the witches of large swathes of ground. Lora barely managed to get out of the way of the sweeping beam, whirling her arms for balance as she landed upon a platform in the air that hadn't been there seconds before.

"Descend!" the snake commanded, its voice full of urgency. "Leave your mother to distract him while we take back what is ours!"

"Can't I just throw you down there?" Lora asked breathlessly as she made a leap of faith to another appearing platform as a rain of stone crashed down all around her. "You could absorb as much as you need…"

"And how do you plan to retrieve me afterward?" Apoph asked in a raspy voice. "Exposure to that much pure aura of mingled origin would kill you. The substance was never meant for your kind."

"What?" Lora asked as she continued her descent, pausing briefly to let a large rock fall past her and splash down into the pool below. "But we naturally have aura…"

"Now is not the time," the serpent hissed as Lora made another leap, getting closer and closer to the glowing liquid as more and more fumes were siphoned upward toward the God of Light. "Bathe the crystal part of the Relic. We'll need to get all four down here for this to work."

"But… Astrid isn't here," Lora pointed out as she managed to get down to within a few feet of the pool. "I may be able to open a gateway…"

"That will be our next move," Apoph reassured as Lora removed the tiara from her forehead. "For now, focus on the task at hand. You are close…"

The group from another time watched as Lora laid flat on her stomach, reaching the Crown of Choice downward and holding the embedded crystal into the pool of aura. Salem and the God of Light continued trading blasts high above, causing a shower of stone to fall into the aura pool all around the Maiden. Steadily, the scene began to fade out as the environment began to darken.

"And so the battle dragged on, while another was taking place," Jinn informed. "Lora continued to overcharge the Relic, working to begin laying the trap for the God of Light. There is something of more import to show you, though, that occurred at roughly the same time. I… hope that I can…"

"Why can't you?" Sun asked, looking up at the spirit. "…you can't answer. This sucks so much a-"

"You will know before this all ends," Jinn interrupted. "I cannot answer directly, no… but I can show you, as it has to do with the Relics and your question. At least… tangentially."

"…well alright then," Sun said, perking up a bit as his tail swished behind him. "That's a fortunate turn of ev-"

Astrid's battle cry drowned the faunus out as she and Ozma faded back in, the backdrop once again that of the dark volcano. The Maiden and her father clashed blades, each pressing against the other as they leaned in to try to bowl over their opponent. Astrid clenched her teeth, bracing her forearm into the blade and relying upon her plated bracer to protect her.

"You know that this must end," Ozma said calmly, showing no strain as he held his daughter back with a mere conventional grip upon the sword. "You know that this is wrong, and no one life is worth all of this."

"Mother is a shell of her former self," Astrid replied, straining. "If resisting you and the God of Light brings her back around… I would give anything…"

"Do you hear yourself?" Ozma asked, a surge of magic pulsing through his sword and repelling Astrid away from him. The man flourished his weapon, pointing it forward and down as his daughter regained her balance. "Do you truly believe killing me and the God of Light would fix her? Bring back the mother you love? Would that not lead to even more of this insanity and destruction?"

"And what would you have me do!?" Astrid cried, her sword igniting with a sudden surge of black and red flame. "I will never simply give in, and neither will Lora or our mother. To even suggest such a thing…"

"Astrid," Ozma said gently. "My daughter. You know sacrifice. You know generosity, and compassion. I know that you do. I witnessed it firsthand, when you learned the truth about my lack of magical ability."

Astrid took a deep, rattling breath, gripping the hilt of the Sword of Destruction tighter.

"…the four of us had no idea you would become this. If we had known that you would be a slave to the God of Light and turn against us…"

"That is not how this happened," Ozma insisted as he shook his head. "We all served him, and he brought me back here and now with terms. Terms that included stopping your mother's rampage, and you are currently complicit in her rebellion. Join me, my daughter, and put Salem and I to rest together. Accept how things should be. How they must be."

"Never," Astrid asserted, assuming a high stance with her sword ready. "Nothing about any of this is how things should be. I've trained against you. I know what you're capable of. I am stronger than you, no matter what new gifts your false god may have offered!"

"…you are forgetting something, dear Astrid," Ozma warned. "You and your sisters each gave me a significant portion of your power with which to rule. With Celes and Fiorella dead… where do you think the remainder of their magical prowess went?"

Astrid held her breath, narrowing her eyes as she swallowed hard.

"Do you think you can handle me… in addition to your own magic, Lora's, and the full range of their capabilities manifested in me?"

"I think I'm going to have to!" Astrid yelled as she charged forward, swinging desperately as the God of Light's domain overtook the area once again.

Another falling curtain of rock splashed down into the pool of aura, and the force of the rushing wind caused Lora's hat to topple off her head and down into the liquid. The garment vaporized near instantly, and the young sorceress quickly pulled the crown up and out of the liquid to look upon it. A flickering light was emanating from the gemstone at the crown's center, causing Lora to tilt her head back with a smile.

"Mother! We need to…"

Lora's declaration died almost immediately as she looked up to find Salem continuing to trade magical assaults with the God of Light. The entirety of the stone platform was gone, and the witch was only being kept aloft by her own sorcery. There was nowhere for Lora to run, and her cry had alerted the God of Light to her presence.

"Still alive?" the dragon asked, a note of genuine surprise in its voice. "And working to overcharge the one implement you constructed that can do me the least harm? Your impotent struggles are beginning to lose their amusing quality…"

As the God of Light raised its claw and clenched it inward, Salem swooped down into a dive toward Lora. The Maiden leapt, holding her breath as another platform created by the Crown of Choice appeared at the end of her trajectory. A massive geyser of aura burst from the pool where she had been standing seconds before, annihilating the previous midair platform and beginning to give chase. Lora ran for all she was worth, rushing to meet her mother as she kept a firm grip upon the circlet and began to channel a spell with her other hand.

"Charge the other Relics!" Lora yelled over the sound of the approaching spout of aura. "Apoph has a plan!"

"Of course he does," the God of Light mocked as it began to slink down through the air, bringing itself closer to the fleeing girl. "A part of me is curious to see what you think you could possibly do… but I am no fool."

The jet of aura began to tilt at an unseen command from the dragon god. As the spout angled to aim for Lora, the Maiden opened a portal and leapt straight through, narrowly escaping the pressurized blast. Salem took the opportunity to swoop down, dragging the head of the Staff of Creation through the stream of aura and charging the crystal immediately before going into a roll and flying back upward and out of the way. The God of Light bared its teeth, calling off the attack as it uttered a single word.

"No."

There was a magical shift in the air that was unexplainable as the deity spread its arms out to either side. Upon bringing them back together, there was a brief flash of blinding light before the entire landscape simply changed. The God of Darkness' realm had been summoned forth into the God of Light's own, colliding and fusing the two together into a mishappen mess. Shimmering aura mixed with the blackened fluid of the foreign realm, resulting in violent eruptions and deafening hisses. Obsidian rocks and twisted bone jutted up and out from the mixture as the entire contained lake began to collapse, beginning to bring the whole mountain down with it. Lora, Astrid, and Ozma had all appeared suddenly atop stone outcroppings within the unstable mixture, leading the Maidens to struggle to find their footing as Ozma immediately took to the air.

"She will not listen," the man said solemnly to the God of Light. "You were right…"

"I know the nature of humanity," the God of Light declared as it watched Lora manifest a magical bubble that carried her upward and out of danger. "They are a mistake not to be repeated."

Once again, the God of Light lifted a claw as it aimed a talon toward Lora… only to have the entire end of its limb removed by a spinning projectile. The Sword of Destruction flew through the air at high speed, severing the hand of the beast before falling down and clattering against one of the rocks jutting from the mixed pool within the crumbling arena. Astrid stared defiantly up at the creature, weaponless and seething as her hands manifested flames.

"You will not claim another life today!" the Maiden roared. "Not one!"

Author's Note:

Final confrontation next week. Who lives? Who dies? Who reincarnates as a slime?

-RD