Cinia Pacifica Posts

Aramus, Michael, and Elizabeth walked into the cave and were on their way to Judgement Reaper.

“We should have some kind of a plan, teacher.” Elizabeth suggested.

“Any ideas would be helpful. The guy has great control over Aurum. My spells didn’t exactly work against him before, so we should try an alternative. He also had some pretty painful Commandments of his own, not to mention the Supreme Spell of Thor’s,” Aramus said.

“We’ll need to take him by surprise. Turn the advantage to our side in that blow,” Michael suggested. “If we can do that, we’ll have a good chance for the rest of the fight.”

As they walked, Michael noticed that there was a different cave just beside them. They were passing by it, and it was rather hard to notice thanks to the mist. He could feel two people coming.

The figures that emerged through the mist were that of a tall middle-aged man and a young girl. At first sight, one could notice the stark differences in their appearance. The girl donned a simple blue dress and her pale, elegant skin made her look out of place whereas the man dressed in a sharp suit, had a somewhat crude expression and wielded a giant sledgehammer about as tall as himself hefted over his shoulder.

“More people lost on this damn rock, is it,” the man remarked, unamused.

“Not lost, we’re heading towards Virgo,” Michael replied. “Now, are you that Judgement Reaper person?” Cold beads of sweat trickled down his face, for if this was Virgo’s Representative, they would’ve lost their final advantage.

“Judgement Reaper?” Kazimir mused. “Another fool who thinks he’s a God?” He rolled his eyes and sighed. “No matter, if you’re all after Virgo then I assume you’re with Victoria as well.”

“Judgement Reaper looked around my age, but perhaps a bit more younger. A young boy would be appropriate for a description. He wears a black jacket and uses a scythe.”

Aramus nodded after Elizabeth’s explanation, turning his attention back to Kazimir and his companion. “We are with the Queen. Would you do battle alongside us, sir…?”

“I might as well.” He sighed, adjusting his hammer on his shoulder. “It’d be faster that way.”

“I’d assume you’re an acquaintance of the Queen, then?” Michael asked, noticing how the man addressed her.

Kazimir shot a glare at the man. “I don’t particularly know Victoria, nor do I want to any further,” he explained. “I only accepted this job for my own circumstances.”

“Right, then. Onto Virgo.” Michael stepped backwards, deciding to leave the talking to Aramus and Elizabeth. Mostly Elizabeth.

“Your spell earlier at the Statue of Liberty was remarkable. The size of that pillar was…” the Magister said, a little bit of his scholarly tendencies showing.

“What, you saw that?” Kazimir asked with a growl.

“Yes, I was observing from the chopper. Amazing, how did you manage that? The mana cost of that spell must be astounding.” Aramus nodded eagerly.

“Tch.” Kazimir turned his head away, rather frustrated as a scowl ran past. Collecting himself, he took a deep breath. “Russian trade secret.”

“I understand. Nonetheless, it was magnificent,” Aramus said as he took a step back as well. The man looking like he didn’t want to reveal more. Perhaps the spell was an original one then. “My apologies for sidetracking, we should proceed.”

“So, we were talking about how to approach Judgement Reaper,” Michael said.

“Your scythe-wielding nutjob?” Kazimir scoffed, uninterested.

“So is he one of those Representatives?” Anna asked.

“Yes, it is imperative that we remove him from the scene,” Aramus replied. Michael nodded in agreement to Aramus.

“Any information on him?” Anna asked.

Aramus repeated what he’d said before. “He particularly likes using lightning,” he added.

“Commandments? I thought Representatives had only one,” Anna said, a bit confused. “Sounds kind of irritating, however, those Aurum spells… maybe I should sit out of this and laze…” she muttered to herself.

“Probably the Magister hitting his head and getting common facts wrong,” Elizabeth answered. “Representatives are indeed limited to the one Commandment they inherit from their Descendant, unless something new took place. So far, teacher mentioned only one himself.”

“Ahh, makes sense, men are indeed like that,” Anna said, giving a nod.

“Indeed.” Elizabeth too, nodded. “We should just make the men fight this out. They’re best for only that, after all,” she jokingly said.

“Let’s just do that. My man here’s pretty strong,” Anna suggested, making Kazimir sigh.

“I see, then that settles it,” Elizabeth said, her hands clapping as if to seal the deal.

Michael just sighed and continued walking. Aramus shrugged his shoulders and said nothing, but he really was eager for a rematch.







As the group exited the cave, the mists cleared to reveal a spacious field. There was a stage, a very small stage upon which Judgement Reaper was sitting, coiled around his scythe. His hood was pulled down and his face was visible. He expression was somewhat morbid, as if tired of life itself.

“...Hello, Aramus, Elizabeth… Michael, Anna…” Judgement Reaper said. It was as though he was finding out the names through means other than memory. “You,” he added, looking at Kazimir. “I don’t know you. Strange.”

“I don’t care much to know you either,” Kazimir growled, looking down at the young boy.

“I don’t know you,” Michael replied. “Great trick, though.” His hand was on top of his holster, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.

“Hey kid, ready for round two?” A manic grin spread across Aramus’ face, not having to worry about where their battle was taking place made him shiver about letting loose.

Judgement Reaper smiled a bit. “Sure. If you like taking lightnings instead of bad breathes.”

“Two can play at that game.” Electricity crackled from within Aramus’s palm.

“Yeah… you are the spellslinger who doesn’t really… sling, after all,” Judgement Reaper replied.

Electricity brushed past his face, singing his hood as the lightning bolt impacted against the world in a veritable shower of sparks. Aramus looked at the Reaper beyond his outstretched hand, still smoking from the spell.

“This works well enough.”

“Anyone with a bit of knowledge about Aurum can do that,” the child said.

“†˜Course they can but more importantly, it’s how fast you can cast, but I suppose you wouldn’t care.” Paimon’s Fan materialized in his palm and he grabbed it with a flourish.

“Ready, boy?”

Judgement Reaper got up, giving his scythe a whirl, clearing the faint mists in the air. “Sure.”

(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nPOh9IscXY)

“Well let’s begin then!” Aramus said, bolts of magic launching outwards and homing in on the Reaper in a spiral. They washed over the Rep, creating a magnetic field and sending him spread eagled. “Move now while he’s pinned.”

Kazimir followed the lead and dashed, taking up his sledge. He pulled the sledge up from below and broke a part of the stage where Judgement Reaper was standing on before the club hit his chin and sent the child flying.

Michael un-holstered his gun, swapped magazines and loaded the red flare bullets Emilia created in one swift action, already aiming the gun as Aramus’ spell hit the Representative. However, the man that came to assist them suddenly blocked his aim and sent the rep flying. Michael took this opportunity and fired his gun several times, all aimed at the Judgement Reaper. The bullets burst into fire the next moment, and Judgement Reaper’s jacket was burning, but he didn’t seemed to care as he whirled his scythe after he got back up as if he simply tripped.

“I invoke the charm of Swastika. Thor—pray grant me the protection of the hammer of lightning. Holy Wrath spell—Vengeance,” he chanted with a finger raised. Clouds formed above his finger and started to expand all across the room, rumbling with a loud noise before a large lightning bolt crashed down on Kazimir who was just before him.

“You little shit!” Kazimir walked out from the resulting smoke from the lightning and sent the club crashing onto Judgement Reaper’s skull, who struck back with his scythe. As Kazimir was turned away by the weapon, the Reaper was shocked by a lightning bolt from Aramus. The Magister in question had another smoking palm pointed at him, already charging another spell.

Michael made some shots with his fire bullets at the same time, and they exploded on Judgement Reaper again, intensifying the fire.

Kazimir struck down with the sledge once more, and it fell upon the stage instead of Judgement Reaper.

“Punishment is given out by the righteous. All hail the glory of the savior’s might. Come, smite foes that torments me so. Holy Wrath spell—Bolts of Justice!” the child chanted yet again. Multiple thunders showered down across the field, burning down upon all of the men.

Kazimir continued to hurl his sledge, but he was starting to miss, the electrical residue making him sluggish, making him very annoyed.

“Ei!” Aramus grumbled. A wall of wind rose to protect him but to no avail as the bolt pierced through his Parma Magica faster than it could form. Thankfully, it was nowhere near as powerful as the full strength one on the plane, and Aramus only experienced mind-numbing pain, leaving him panting after the spell.

Kazimir’s sledge and the child’s scythe clashed a few times before a golden cloud formed under Judgement Reaper’s feet, and he flew up into the air when Kazimir swung at him again. When he looked at Michael who was glowing with a silver aura, however, he felt the anguish of a thousand sinners in hell, and winced, holding his head as an intense headache spiked. He barely put up his fidgeting hand—trying to chant, but his clothes were burning, his body felt paralyzed more or less, and now his brain was in pain. It wasn’t looking good for him, but he was oddly calmer than most would be in this situation.

He looked up in the nick of time and spiralled into him as lightning, a veritable locus of power. Escaping to the air might stop the others, but not him and a laugh escaped the Magister’s lips, coming out as the rumbling of thunder. He forced the Reaper back, the apparently younger Aurum user holding him back with the handle of his scythe. Eventually, Judgement Reaper fell off his golden cloud and Aramus pushed him straight to the ground.

Michael cast his exorcising spell as his hand glowed silver and touched Judgement Reaper’s forehead as he laid on the ground, smitten by Thor’s Might.

Judgement Reaper smiled, his face all bloody.

“It’s not gonna work on me… well, I guess I’m done anyway,” the child said.

“Figured. Even here, he’s messing with me,” the former priest complained.

Judgement Reaper then closed his eyes. “Mother, I’m going on ahead…”

“Nothing to look forward to on the other side, kid.” Michael stepped back.

Just in time as Aramus slammed into the Reaper after arcing around, the impact throwing up a small cloud of dust and electricity. When it cleared, they could see Aramus’s fist plunging through the Representatives chest, bursting with electricity as it destroyed his innards.

“See ya around, punk,” the Magister said simply, upping the ante on his spell.

“Heh… the afterworld doesn’t work like Christianity teaches, anyway.”

Ripping out the Reaper’s heart in a shower of blood, Aramus incinerated the organ before his victim's eyes, giving one last disdainful look at the dying boy before turning away.

The corpse started to disintegrate into particles of light as it flew out into the atmosphere.

After flying off with the tornado and going for some time, the strength of Paimon’s Fan finally gave out and the winds started to slow down. By the time the winds cleared and the mists were returning to fill back the air, Aramus and Michael found themselves in between several caves and there was a large silver wall on which blue stones were glowing. The moon shard shook for a moment as if an earthquake took place. Something particularly powerful may have hit something. Apparently there were others fighting, and they couldn’t be sure if it was Virgo or not, but the chances were likely.

“Michael… are you alright? Can you move?” Aramus asked as they landed.

“Didn’t I tell you to run already?! We could’ve… she could’ve survived!” Michael knew that he just needed to blame something, to be angry at something. He knew, but he couldn’t control himself, not now.

Aramus waited for Michael's tirade to wash over, planting his mother's—no, his black sword into the ground and to lean on it. “We shouldn’t have let her do battle alone.”

Michael punched the wall beside him. “Damn it. I was a puppet to that bastard.” He struck the wall once more. “He was playing with us, tugging our strings.” It might be due to Mary’s—his biological mother’s spell that he had any semblance of sanity left. He had a storm of emotions raging inside him, for in one moment; his past, his faith; and his hopes were all shattered. And to top it all off, the man who caused all this suffering was free after making him experience a part of Hell’s combined anguish inside him. What does a priest do after losing his faith? “I was… I was his dog—and I caused all of this.”In the end, there’s only one thing I can trust.

“You couldn’t have known. I’m not even sure if… she herself knew,” Aramus said, running a shaking hand down his face. He was utterly confused but not as much as Michael was. The priest, his half-brother, had had the world he knew turned over in the span of a few moments. It was understandable that the man was questioning everything he knew up till now. He himself had so many questions that would never be answered now that his mother was gone. No, taken away. “I don’t know nor do I care about why they did that to her, but you and me, we can fix this.”

“Fix?! There is nothing! NOTHING TO FIX!” Michael turned around and grabbed Aramus by the collar. “No! We would not be fixing anything. I will execute them. I will show them… I will break the illusion they call immortality!” He threw Aramus aside and faced the entrance of the cave they were in. “I will do exactly what he trained me to do… I will obtain the absolute power and execute them!”

“In time brother. I-I had so many things to ask her. About the family I never had, how she and father met. My sister… Our sister. Those responsible will not be forgiven but we must set that aside if only temporarily, for Virgo still lives. We can hunt the two at our leisure once she has been dealt with. Deal with them slowly, painfully.”

“Virgo...” Michael’s tone was laced with venom. It seemed that his hatred extended to all the Descendants now. “Yes… we will start with her.”

“Do not let the hate control you!” Aramus said as it was his turn to grab Michael. “You’re better than that!”

“Hate? No… I was a puppet of his, I was a slave to his rules, his—no, this isn’t hate. I was blind but now I can see—I can now see clearly. Nothing we do would change anything as long as their kind still lives. For the first time… I am in control.”

The sound of fist hitting flesh resounded across the cavern as Aramus tried to literally beat some sense into his brother. “No, you are not. We will work on this together, but your emotions are running too high, Michael. I would not gain a brother just to lose him in the same day.”

Michael gave no reply to Aramus, rather, he couldn’t come up with an answer. A part of him was deeply grateful for his concern, for striking him at that. He just averted his gaze, gritting his teeth as he tried to calm himself down. He walked towards the entrance of the cave until he was at its mouth. “We need to find the others if we want to have a chance against Virgo,” he said after a moment of silence between them.

Aramus let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. At least some of the Michael he knew was in control. “Let’s go then, we have to so much left to do today,” Aramus added as he hurried after Michael. “You can also tell me about Laura later,” he added as an afterthought.

“We’ll see.”

Aramus couldn’t help but stifle a laugh at that response. However, Michael collapsed backwards and hit the floor with a thud.

The last thing he heard was a faint “Michael!” as Aramus rushed over.

From the fog in front of them a blot of darkness formed, and out came the best student Aramus the Magic Magister knew—Elizabeth.

“Mister Michael…” Elizabeth huffed as she saw him fall to the ground. She was using her relic sword as a cane to walk and was barely able to stand, and her dress had shreds all over it, the frilly materials on it tarnished.

“Ellie!” Aramus yelled, propping his half brother up into a sitting position before rushing over to Ellie. He then supported her by letting her lean on him; her legs looked like they could give out at any moment. “What happened? Do you have potions?”

Elizabeth and Michael were thus put against the shining blue stones on the wall to rest.

“Judgement Reaper… he is up ahead there, teacher,” Elizabeth answered. She then took out a potion she had. “He is too strong for me alone.”

“Then we will take him together after you get some rest,” the Magister said, looking in the direction she had come from with narrowed eyes. “We can do this.”

Elizabeth drank the potion and sighed. “Today has been a long and terrible day.”

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Aramus said as he planted himself down to rest as well. He began explaining Virgo’s Commandments and then what had transpired from when they had separated, to Virgo casting the World Buster and finally when they entered her lair. His voice had become increasingly unsteady up to this point, and Aramus was in tears when he finally looked at her in the eyes again. “They got Mary, Ellie. She’s gone...”

“I see… to think World Buster is that powerful…” Elizabeth murmured, looking down. She knew it was his fault, and that was why she couldn’t quite comfort him about it either. “...And Miss Mary was taken?! By Virgo?” she questioned. The old friend she knew back in England was gone. Albeit they hadn’t been close, she still felt bad hearing the news.

Aramus felt a sharp pain in his heart as Ellie looked away. He knew that she would respond like that, anybody would after being told of his mistake. He looked over the black sword, still planted in the ground a short distance away. “Not Virgo. Claudia, the Representative of the Countess was responsible, Her mistress was there as well. There was another Descendant, but he only revealed his identity as the Pope and… Jesus Christ.”

“What? Jesus Christ? Teacher, are you sure you were not dreaming?” Elizabeth asked with her dry voice. “But I suppose this means Mary’s information about the BloodLuSt being involved was true.”

“I wish I was dreaming Ellie, I really do. My mistakes… What I learned today.” Aramus paused, trying to find a way to vocalize his thoughts, pounding the ground with his fist when he couldn’t instead. “BloodLuSt will pay for taking her from me.”

“So… Miss Mary was taken away by the BloodLuSt? What would the terrorists want from a scholar of the Royal Academy?”

“She…” Her teacher paused mid-sentence, conflicted about telling the whole truth to her. He had unintentionally withheld information before and was now paying the price. “We have not been completely honest with you, Elizabeth. You must not tell this to anyone, do you understand? Not until we know more.”

“Um… what happened? I have never ever heard you of all people being this secretive, teacher,” Elizabeth said, completely taken aback.

“Do I have your word, Elizabeth Cavendish Bentwick?” Aramus said, dead serious.

Elizabeth then showed the expression befitting of a noble lady. “Understood, Mister Aramus Valmark.”

“Mary is… was a Representative under the Pope. I am not clear how long she has been alive, but she has been active in England for quite some time,” Aramus said as he began sobbing in earnest. “She’s al’o… me’ moth’r.”

“...I am so sorry I asked,” Elizabeth whispered. She embraced her teacher who started to cry even more than just sobbing. To think Mary was such a different person… than what I knew of her.

“S’not yo’r fa’lt Ell’e. Jus’ th’t it’s painfu’ findin’ ou’t wh’n I ca’t sav’ h’r.” He paused between another round of sobbing, appreciative of Elizabeth’s action. “I’ ha’d so mu’ch to ask h’r bu’t no’w, I can’t.”

Elizabeth patted the teacher’s back as he let loose his true feelings. “I am sure you did… even now there is so much I want to talk about with my mother, but I hardly ever get the chance to. I can sympathize. I am sure everything will be fine. We will just have to get her back.”

“She dis’olved in my’ han’ds Ell’e! I’ll be damn’d if I le’t th’ same happ’n to y’u. Ye mus’ spe’k wit’ yo’r moth’r once thi’s is ov’r. Pr’mise me th’t,” Aramus said as he hugged her tighter. “Nev’r kn’w wh’n th’y’ll leav’ ye.”

“...I cannot promise that, teacher,” Elizabeth whispered. “I understand how you feel but… after what I did, I am in no position to do so.”

“Th’n at leas’t try’. Sh’s stil’ you’r moth’r. Family,” Aramus replied just as quietly. “She cares deeply for you. I never told you, but she visited me to speak about you. Please.”

“No, this is a sin I bear alone. I cannot indulge my mother while she is… ignorant of my truth.”

”The Duchess will blame herself, not you for this. She loves you too much for that. I know that she will find out one day, you cannot keep this hidden forever.”

“That is why I cannot tell her. This is still my business, and I will do what I must to keep it that way. I cannot shame my mother any more than I have already.”

“Sometimes you worry me too much. I still do not like keeping this from your parents, but I think that you will have your way. I highly doubt I will see them again after this operation,” Aramus said with a defeated sigh.

“I swore to secrecy so we are even like this,” Elizabeth said, wryly smiling as she released Aramus.

“That’s not what I meant but alright,” Aramus said as he smiled sadly at his student. “Do you really think there is a place for someone like me in England after this? Definitely not.”

“There… probably is no such place. I did understood what you meant. Teacher,” Elizabeth said as she looked away. “Let us… run away. From England. From everything. ”

Aramus was stunned for a moment. Her, Ellie, Elizabeth Cavendish Bentwick, the most capable of all his students and a Noble. Her of all people, propositioning him to run away with her? Then he realized what that meant and got flustered.

“Slow down, missy. Running away… I… I don’t think I can answer that right now, Elizabeth.”

“I’m sorry for asking something so strange, I just… I honestly hate my life. I like it too, but I hate it. You do not need to answer me now. Take your time, teacher.”

“Your troubles far outweigh mine when I was your age,” Aramus said as he placed a hand on her head, ruffling her silky hair. This action really calmed him down, reminding him of the more peaceful days in the Eastern Magic Academy.

A woman wearing a black dress appeared beside them, looking at the two with a dumbfounded look. The woman appeared as though she was there to party rather than fight. Her eyes were deep red, just like Claudia’s.

“Is that priest here?” she asked.

“The hell are you?” Aramus said, jumping back defensively. He was more distraught at being caught in that position with Ellie than by the lady’s appearance.

“Not anymore.” Michael responded, his back leaning on the wall. His face showed weariness a person his age should not have. It was the face of a man who lost everything.

Aramus turned to look at him, horror etched on his face. “Please don’t tell me… how long have you been awake?”

“Long enough,” Michael responded. “You should go with her, away from all this mess.”

At that point in time, Aramus felt that being blasted by Virgo’s World Buster was a better place than here. He then looked at the new arrival, motioning for her to get on with things if only to change the subject.

“Well, out with it, where’s Mary? I have business with her.”

“She’s dead,” Michael curtly replied.

“I see, then there is no hope for me…” as the woman said it, Michael noted her fangs. She was a vampire. “Alright, see you then.”

“Who’re you?” Michael stood up and blocked her path. “Did you think you could go before introducing yourself?”

The woman stopped and looked back. “That Mary’s †˜informant.’ Good enough for you?”

“Stupidest name I’ve ever heard.” Michael did not budge.

“Got a problem with that?”

“Do you really have to do this right now?” Aramus said, exasperated by the two. “What did you have for Mary? I assume there is some preexisting agreement between the both of you?”

“You know, information? Anyway, Mary wanted to meet around here earlier.”

“Well, that’s not possible anymore. Your mistress was here herself earlier, did you know that?”

“...No. I told Mary not to go there—she willingly bit the bullet, then?”

“She was here with Claudia, the reason why Mary isn’t with you now. Never mind that, we can try to arrange a compromise. You said there was no hope for you, what did you want from her?” Aramus said curiously.

“Before I answer that, you will have to spill about Mary. I can smell a lie when I hear one anyway.”

“Her sword is over there, it was gifted to me. Since you’ve aided her and us in some way, I’m trying to return the favor. Do you really need to complicate this much more?”

“I am waiting. Who is it thanks to that the Royal Council was able to take action at all?”

Aramus raised his arms as if to say “why.”

Michael had enough of this banter. He walked towards the vampire and stopped in front of her, with barely a breath’s distance between them. “Enough of this. Either you talk or I make you.” Michael stared fiercely into her. “I’ve had my share of mysteries today, and I really cannot be arsed on explaining how my friend died just now.”

“Look ok, stop, stop. You,” Aramus said, pointing at the vampire. “What do you want to know?”

“If you cannot even be truthful, my information is not worth it here. This is not how you make deals, and surely Mary was not like this. I am out of here.” The woman walked away into the mist, ignoring Michael’s words especially.

“She was taken back by him!” Aramus yelled after her. “Enough information for you? Now can we please return to talks. Your information might save the lives of whoever is still alive.”

Elizabeth stepped in, and pushed Aramus away lightly. “Teacher, you are absolutely horrible at this. You too, Mister Michael. Both of you shut up for some time.”

Michael just huffed and looked away while Aramus looked horrified at being reprimanded. Such was life.

“We will speak a bit farther than here. Away from these monkeys,” the woman suggested.

“Yes, that is an agreeable suggestion,” Elizabeth said, giving a nod.

Some minutes passed and Elizabeth came back, handing some potions to Aramus and Michael, apparently given to her by the exquisitely dressed woman. “It turns out there was quite a lot of information after all… and you two almost sent her away.”

“I was only trying to help!” Aramus said with a sigh. “S’not like I want to turn away someone who helped Mary.”

“What did she say?” Michael chugged a potion in one go.

“Do not waste them—well, it turns out we are in a world of a trouble,” Elizabeth began. “The †˜temple’ is at the top of this †˜moon shard,’ and we will have to get there to face Virgo. Before we reach her must deafeat a Representative. There are several paths to the temple but all of them have a Representative of Virgo guarding them. I suppose Judgement Reaper is one of them. Also, I learned about a new Commandment of Virgo…”

“So, kill a Representative, then kill Virgo. Simple enough. What do you mean Commandment?” Michael was more curious about Virgo’s abilities, if anything since they now knew where she was their lives were easier.

“She gave me some names—by the by—Judgement Reaper, Judgement Summoner, Judgement Saint, Judgement Samurai. Judgement Sniper may or may not appear apparently.”

“And what did she want in exchange for this information?” Aramus asked.

“Nothing, she simply left after she learned that Mary may be alive somewhere,” Elizabeth answered.

“She may be alive?” Aramus said, looking hopeful.

“Apparently, her master would not let her die no matter what. I suppose that is why she was skeptical when you said that she died.”

“But she dissolved in my very arms…” Aramus said in disbelief. “Don’t tell me that was one of his Commandments?”

“I… I do not know who to believe either. Perhaps there’s yet hope. I have no clue though.”

“What is the Commandment?” Michael repeated.

“Eclipse’s Mirror. The Commandment that takes the life of those around her temporarily. You lose your soul from your body.”

Michael felt despair upon hearing the Commandment. How in the hell were they supposed to fight that kind of absurdity? But deep in his despair came his drive, he still hoped. If we give up now, if we just accept this… then it would all be for nothing.

“Even so. We must find a way.”

“Lastly, her name is Rose.”

“No wonder the information was deemed reliable by Mary. She’s among the Countess’ circle, like the guy who owned this coat before me. ”

“Ah… so you took down the Noble Diner?” Elizabeth asked.

Michael just nodded in affirmation. He then looked at Ellie and Aramus both. “You two should elope now. No one would have to know about it; I will take it to the grave.”

“E-Elope?” Elizabeth questioned, flustered. Now that she thought it, her suggestion did sounded like it, even if she had not intend to run away to marry Aramus.

Aramus coughed at the word, looking at Michael questioningly.

“Someone has to try and reach Virgo. And neither of you have to be one of them. There will be others there. You can rest easy.”

“No, we cannot run after coming so far.” Elizabeth shook her head. “Even if my teacher does not wish to; I shall go. I have the responsibility after having signed up for this. I am sure my teacher would agree with me.”

“As she says,” Aramus said, though he was grateful that Michael would think well for both of them. “There is too much at stake for us to turn tail now. Perhaps after, but if we do not take her down, there will not be a place to run to.”

“This is beyond mere responsibilities now,” Michael said. “Are you sure you want to die here?” Michael looked at his half-brother, as if urging him to take the young lady away.

“It is not. Do you think you can answer the mundanes if they asked why they had to die? We did not lose a hundred—no, we lost more than at least a few hundreds of our peers when Virgo attacked. If we do not support our cause now, who will?”

“Glad to work with you, then.” Michael smirked. If the young lady hesitated in front of him, he would just try to leave her somewhere rather than let her be a liability later. “I’ll be in your care.”

“Likewise,” Elizabeth responded. “Let us take down Judgement Reaper. We can worry about Virgo after him.”

Michael nodded and dusted his new coat, his fires relit. He would finish this job first, and worry about what he’ll do next later. How am I supposed to go back to Laura now?

“Welp, someone’s gotta save the day. Might as well be us,” Aramus said, pulling the sword out of the ground.

Phase 6:

Svetlana and Lily entered a cave that was just behind Judgement Summoner after they fought her, and it seemed like the pathway lead them upwards. When they exited it, they found a large spacious area where the mist was not thick. Svetlana saw a familiar visage, and her blood started to boil from rage already.

It was Virgo.

“Finally made it I see, young avenger,” Virgo remarked.

“Yeah. To end you once and for all!” Svetlana said, casting the spell Blazing Wind at Virgo immediately without thought.

(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJCU37qShUk)

“Is that all you have? Clearly not, yes?” Virgo said as the flames subsided, her naturally gifted protection against magic as a Descendant blocking the effects of the spell.

Lily charged forward with her broadsword drawn. “Stop provoking my friend!” she yelled as her broadsword collided with the winds of Fragarach—the sword held in the left hand of Virgo.

Casually, Virgo pushed her down with the winds of her relic, not even looking Lily in the eye. Clearly, her aim was to battle Svetlana, the dubbed “avenger.”

“Then how about this!” Svetlana shouted as she placed her hand onto the ground. A tree with the shape of a man grew out of the ground, giving a mighty roar. Its eyes burned crimson in the mist and it faced Virgo, feeling the intent of its master. Vines seemed to be latched on it like armor. It ran ahead as Svetlana mentally commanded it to attack, and its claws met the steel of the Descendant. The vines lashed out and struck at Virgo, but the barrier shrugged it off.

“Oh? Another new spell of this era, interesting,” Virgo commented. “By the majesty of the Goddess of Tuatha I pray—all before me shall be cut in two and brought to their ruin. This is the decree of the ruler!”

The Ent was bifurcated—cut cleanly in two as it crumbled to the ground. Virgo then levered her shining sword towards Svetlana. She dashed and struck at the short lady who blocked with her dagger in less than a second.

Lily attacked from the right and brought down her broadsword upon Virgo, who then deflected the strike with her Fragarach, not turning to her to note her presence, she could simply feel Lily’s position from the slight shifts in the air.

Virgo single-handedly battled with both of the mages with both her arms and swords as the resounding clash of steel filled the battlefield.

“Damn you!” Svetlana shouted as electricity could be seen on her dagger as she now tried to attack her again. Virgo, however, blocked it.

“I pray…” Virgo uttered, and the dagger broke in two. The electricity surged and sparked in every direction, and the discharge caused a recoil for Svetlana. In the next moment, the winds blew Lily away yet again.

Virgo walked up to Svetlana and took up her shining sword.

A lightning bolt cracked through the mist with a flash and the accompanying boom as it slammed into Virgo’s side, and a slight glow of flame shined through the silvery mist. A voice boomed, not quite as deep as the mini-thunder that came with the lightning bolt.

“Virgo! For your crimes against the people, I find you guilty of uncountable murders, and I sentence you to execution!”

Aleksander’s burning sword clashed against Virgo’s shining sword.

“Oh? You’d judge me? How kind of you.” With these words, Virgo displayed unimaginable strength; forcing Alek back. Taking up her sword into the empty air, an explosion followed.

“As expected of you, Virgo. You live up to your name,” Louise said as she walked out of the mist from behind.

“The Lost Form of Void… I thought it was extinct. Interesting.”

“Tch, I suppose I should thank you,” Svetlana said as she stood up.

Alek nodded. “Of course, glad to help, Miss.” Having faced Virgo once more, he kept an eye on her as he stood between Virgo and Louise, drew a pistol, and took aim before blasting a lead ball towards the Descendant. “Are you going to be able to continue fighting?” he asked Svetlana.

“Of course,” Svetlana said as she again casted another Blazing Wind spell at Virgo.

Virgo made a cross with her swords, and the flame was sent back towards Svetlana and the others instead. Needless to say, the bullet was stopped in the air thanks to Fragarach’s capabilities. Virgo dug Fragarach into the ground which caused it to crack, and the air exploded with the relic’s power and sent rocks flying at them.

The flames and the rocks collided with Louise’s force field conjured out by the spell she learned as a child. The Royal Magica was the only viable spell made to withstand the powers of the Descendants to an extent.

Virgo vanished in a second and slashed at the barrier, the shining sword making it break apart before they knew it.

Alek saw red and bull-rushed Virgo with a quick slash of his blade, intending to lay her open from hip to shoulder. “Leave her alone!” he shouted.

Upon this, Svetlana created a portal next to her. She followed it up by forming a purple orb and throwing it into the warp.

The spear of purple flame fell on Virgo’s back as the same portal also opened behind her. The Descendant winced for the first time, but she took up her shining blade towards Svetlana instead of chasing Louise.

Aleksander tried to block Virgo’s sword, but his Colada met the winds of Fragarach instead. Princess Louise was recasting the barrier spell and was unable to move. This was the intense and overwhelming might of the conqueror of Macedonia.

“Svetlana!” Lily shouted, blocking the shining blade before the spiritual energy violently rang and spread all around the place, with the eye of the storm being Virgo’s shining sword.

“By the majesty of Tuatha, I pray!” Lily’s sword too, broke in half. “All before me shall be cut in two and brought to their ruin. This is the decree of the ruler!”

“Svetlana… take care.”

Lily looked back to Svetlana, who saw Lily smile and heard her last words as the light finally overflowed. There was an explosion yet again, and by the time the smoke cleared, Svetlana started crying.

Lily’s body was cut neatly in half. Both halves were tossed and mostly burned on opposing ends of the room.

“Damn you wench, I’m gonna kill you!!” Svetlana wailed, as of that moment she could no longer control her emotions.

“Hahahaha! That’s more like it!” Virgo roared.

Svetlana’s eye turned black and her eyepatch fell off. Her other eye awakened to show a similarly black eye, and there was a black flame curving out from said eye. An ethereal cloud of darkness formed from her back and spread before it took the shape of what looked like a wing. Her body itself was covered with the aura of the demon and she yelled in pure madness. The earth and the surroundings shook at her unleashed strength.

“Aleksander Fane,” Louise called out. “Stay back, do not step in.”

Holy mother of god… Alek maintained his distance, having opted to begin his own salvo of magic by casting Dehydrate, hoping to slow and potentially cripple one of Virgo’s arms. Making an irritated grunt when the spell appeared to have no effect, he resolved to try to improve the potency of his casting in the near future, as he adopted a more defensive stance.

(GM Comment: He just doesn’t listen.)

Svetlana pulled a hand out and black airs started to form around Virgo and trap her, but she took up her right arm and showed its back. A navy-blue prism jewel glowed, breaking away the impending darkness.

A black ball of darkness then formed atop Svetlana’s hand. Thundering and electrifying, it crackled violently, breaking some small rocks and debris around her. The plasma in the ball started to grow as Svetlana poured more and more Infernal mana and Aurum-aspected mana into it. She groaned—her voice that of a demon now—as she concentrated an incredible amount of energy.

“Come, don’t keep me waiting for too long,” Virgo said with a smile that appeared rather seductive, calm and collected.

Svetlana roared and tossed the plasmatic sphere at Virgo. There was something like a short sparkling noise, and the shining light of the sword of Nuadha was seen before the sphere was cut into two. Both the hemispheres of the orb blasted behind Virgo. An intense explosion rang, and the ancient conqueror’s back withstood it with ease.

“I’m not done yet, bitch!” Svetlana yelled. It was enough to make the ground tremble from vibration.

Two, three, four, five orbs of black plasma formed and she repeatedly threw them at Virgo. Many explosions took place, and finally, Virgo was scathed. She looked down at a damaged arm. Her winds and magical resistances that were naturally gifted to her as a Descendant—tarnished. Impressed, Virgo looked up to Svetlana.

“Now we’re talking.”

“Die already!”

Svetlana launched a volley of orbs of flames that turned into purple blazing spears. A spell that she had a penchant for recently. The flames burned around Virgo before the overflowing forces exploded. She gathered her two hands and finally clapped twice. As her palms parted, a ball of black formed, crackling with electricity like earlier. She put it over her head as it enlarged to an enormous degree before she threw it at Virgo.

The explosion was by far the largest, and the waves were sent all over the moon shard as the debris and air violently patted against Svetlana.

Virgo was walking towards Svetlana. There were some scratches on her body, but compared to Svetlana, or Lily, the Descendant was not in a situation as bad as the others. Virgo raised her blade, but then pulled it back down.

“Feel free to mourn your comrade,” Virgo said. “I shall await you at the Lunar Temple.”

She disappeared into a portal that closed behind her, leaving the unsatisfied demon of Svetlana alone with Louise and Aleksander.

“Damn you! Damn you! Damn you! Get back here!!” Svetlana shouted. She went down to her knees, pounding the ground with her fist.

Phase 5:

Michael weakly walked across the mists, finding a path that seemed to be taking him further up inside the large lunar rock. He draped Marco’s coat familiar over him, for he needed all the protection he could get; he couldn’t afford another fight at the moment.

His desire for vengeance should have finally been sated, yet he did not feel any better. If anything, he thirsted for more; he felt empty and angry, but now he was angry at nothing, for the vampire Marco was dead. He stopped for a moment to spit out the blood coming up his throat. The bitter metallic taste seemed to reflect his feelings. He spat out a few more wads of blood and he started walking again.

There was something like a stage when he turned. The mists revealed an ancient place and he wasn’t sure why it was there, but it didn’t appear to be a temple where Virgo awaited. Behind the arena was a clock that was broken; it wasn’t ticking.

He could see some cave-like openings on the far right corner, and one just before him. He turned and found another that he just came out from. It was far better to navigate from here, it seemed, and the mists seemed to be at their lowest around here.

Before he sat down on the corner of the arena to drink from the potion, he heard a familiar voice.

“Mister Kallweit!”

It was Mary Shelley, and there was their leader—the Magic Magister—Aramus beside her.

“Ah. Mary… Are you two alright?” Michael was too bloody and battered to bother with honorifics. “I’m sorry for leaving you and Svetlana alone,” he continued, this time addressing Aramus.

“I am fine,” Mary answered. “Although it was a little unexpected how strong Virgo was.”

“I don’t think more assistance would’ve made a difference. She was just too strong,” Aramus said solemnly with a shake of his head.

“Did she—did she do thi—” Michael coughed out more blood. It seemed that if he’d used his new spell once more in his fight, he wouldn’t have survived.

“What’s wrong?!” Mary said, running over to Michael “I knew you fought but… why is your heart like this?” She was seeing more than his face and the blood when she looked into him with her golden eye.

“Ah well, I had this spell I had to try.” He grinned at her. Somehow seeing Mary’s face just lifted all the anger and emptiness he felt. Even seeing Archangel Uriel didn’t do this to me. Funny.

“You’re as reckless as ever. Take care of yourself more,” Mary scolded, but she didn’t sounded particularly angry. The most she could do for him now was rub his face clean with a handkerchief.

Michael covered the hand Mary was rubbing his face with his own, gripping it tightly.

“Marco… I fought him; he is no more. I’ve finally avenged Laura. But why—why did I feel angrier afterwards? I felt empty.”

Mary looked down at Michael with a very cold look. “Because revenge is an utterly petty idea.”

“Heh. Figured.” Michael released her hand. “Have you seen the others?”

“No, we haven’t. Mister Valmark mentioned that he left Svetlana across the coastlines,” Mary answered, still wiping the dirt and blood from the face.

“Yeah, I needed to contact the army and the only plausible option at the time was to fly up to one of our choppers, and then we came here,” Aramus explained. “I was in radio contact with our chain of command up till just now.”

“I see.” Michael popped the cork off the potion bottle. “I’ll be fine here, you guys should try to find them.”

“You stay here with Mister Valmark,” Mary stated, looking up to the stage. “And do not approach it, no matter what happens.”

“You already know what I’ll do the moment I can stand.” He drank from the bottle greedily.

“You and me both,” Aramus added with a chuckle.

Mary smiled. “That potion may be rare and effective, but it takes some time to work.”

“It’d be like back when we were in London then. Don’t make me chase you too far, now. I am still quite injured.” Michael returned her smile.

You have not changed a bit… Mary walked off before she gave a wave with her hand. “Feel free to chase if I do run too far then.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll catch up,” Aramus assured her before turning to Michael. “So fill me in on what happened when we were separated. As you know, Svetlana and I failed to stop Virgo.”

“Did she do this? The meteor, the moon falling… I tried to help a young mage trying to escape; figured I could do that one bit before returning. When I came back, you two were gone. I’m sorry.” Michael finally realized what their sub-leader Takeru meant. What everyone meant. If he hadn’t tried to save that mage, they could’ve prevented the massive death toll that followed.

“Don’t kill yourself apologizing. If anyone should, it’s me.” Aramus couldn’t bear to look Michael in the eyes as he told his half of the story along with the information on Virgo’s Commandments. “I screwed up big time. The only way to atone is for me to vanquish Virgo. If I survive, someone else can have my title. I don’t deserve it.”

Michael smiled at Aramus. “Well then, I do recall we’re still hiring.” He took Aramus’ advice to heart. This was no time to wallow in despair and self-pity; it was a time to take action. They would just have to bear with the consequences later, but for now, they should stand firm in what they believed in and defend it. “If we win, that means a brighter tomorrow for the rest. We can carry the weight of our sins then.”

“Aye,” Aramus agreed wholeheartedly, patting Michael on the back. “Though this wardrobe change is pretty sudden. Where did you get this? Because if memory serves, the only other person I’ve seen with this was Her Majesty’s assailant,” he said as he felt the fabric of the coat.

“It’s his. He won’t be dining on anyone ever again. This, I am sure of.” Michael showed the hole he made through the coat, “I figured this will be useful later on. It was a defensive familiar.”

Aramus gave a smug laugh then scrutinized the coat. “That’s the first piece of good news I’ve heard today. Saves me the trouble of going to look for him as well. Was the coat enchanted or did it seem like it was a part of him?”

“Wasn’t sure, but it gave me a hard time fighting him. It constantly tried to shield him and let out some Ignem spells loose, so I casted Frighten towards this coat.” Michael shrugged. “It just died when he did.”

“Probably tied to him then,” Aramus concluded. “Wouldn’t hurt to do some study later when this is all over. Perhaps we could enhance it somehow, like Takeru’s coat. That is the real deal, every mage should have one.”

“That would be most helpful,” Michael replied.

Mary Linfield then entered the stage and walked up to its center, looking up at the broken clock. She eyed the pathway at the right from the corner of her gold eye next. Some moments later, a very familiar person’s visage became apparent as she walked out of the fog.

“Well you’re a sight for sore eyes,” Claudia mused. The woman placed her hand on a hip while the other was occupied with the scythe on her shoulder. “It’s been a while, Miss Shelley.”

“Indeed, Claudia. Consider me surprised that you are addressing me in proper manner,” Mary remarked.

“You’re complaining? I’d rather save that for later, frankly,” Claudia replied, chuckling.

“Just happy to know that you have some manners as a vampire now, is all,” Mary said, chuckling like the old days.

“I always did, really. Using them got boring every time I woke up with a pole up my ass.” Claudia absently adjusted her jacket to fit firmly onto her arms with a sigh. “Speaking of, how’s your Master been? Still holding that leash tightly?”

“I wonder about that.”

“You don’t even know? Ha. At least back in slavery, we knew when we were going to get punished or not. These days it’s just topsy turvey.”

“It is not the kind of easy-going slavery—and frankly, exaggerated situation—that you went through… it is something much more different.”

“Yeah, yeah. A magic chain around your neck or some shit, held by the man who told you to kill me… which you failed at. I wonder what your punishment was for allowing me to escape…?” A smirk formed on Claudia’s lips as they quirked upwards.

“Read one of those dirty books of yours and perhaps you would know.”

“Ooh, and the brilliant yet meek Mary Shelley strikes again with one of her jokes. Probably nothing more compared to what I have planned.”

“And what have you planned?”

As Claudia tilted her head, a crack resounded through the air.

“Mary, oh, Mary. You don’t how long I’ve been waiting for you ask me that. You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to see you, actually. The many nights I’ve spent thinking of you, masturbating to the thought of you, imagining that it’s you who I’m raping in my bed, the times I cut myself in the arm the same way you did me—all so I could prepare myself for… This. Particular. Moment.” Claudia shuddered from her own words. “Very soon, you won’t have to worry about that man from The Society controlling you… because you’ll be under a different leash. My leash.”

Mary regretted asking the question, evident from her expression full of disgust. Her cringe adding to the portrayal of her disapproval all the more to the Representative of vampires.

“I am afraid that none of such drivel shall be realized.”

Mary and Claudia both turned to the pillar where the broken clock was.

Before the pillar stood someone they both knew.

Charlotte Brontë.

There was no mistake, that same yellow long Victorian dress, the brighter blonde hair and the emerald eyes—no, her left eye was shining navy-blue.

“Charlotte… Charlotte, what are you doing here?!” Mary questioned, snapping. Her cold face gone and her breathing intensifying. She panicked, taking a few steps back from her.

“Look at that, two of my old friends in one place.” Claudia sighed. “Well, out with it. What are you doing here?”

“I am here for you, Mary…” Charlotte faced Claudia. “So, you will never have her, Claudia.”

“Bullshit,” Claudia spat. “So you can just hide her from me? Ha! Even if that were the case, I’d find her regardless. I know Mary’s scent all too well…”

“Why… why are you here, Charlotte?!” Mary shouted her question, ignoring the exchange between her and Claudia.

“As I said, I came here for you—”

“That’s not what I am asking!!”

“Either way… Claudia, you will never be able to find her anymore,” Charlotte said, a crazed smile on her face.

Claudia sighed again, mumbling to herself as to how troublesome an obsession over one woman had become. Scratching at her scalp, a chuckle leaked from her lungs.

“Now that’s funny… to challenge my own ultimatum… haha…” She looked up to Charlotte in her own trademark wide-eyed smile. “That’s fine! I’ll take you both as my slaves if it’s gonna be that way! Then it’ll be exactly like how we got together at the café!”

Charlotte laughed maniacally in response to this statement, it was evil, yet not wholly evil. She was truly demented. It was as though Claudia’s words had no effect on her. She wasn’t making any remark at the unbelievable nonsense that Claudia was spouting, but was going on with her own obsession for Mary, something that was much, much greater than whatever feelings Claudia had for Mary. A desire for slavery sounded like childish nonsense to her, Charlotte desired something greater. She found Claudia shallow.

“What exactly are you talking about? You are going to be killed by my Mary tonight, and then I can live with her happily ever after.”

“Charlotte…” Mary looked up to her best friend with a stupefied look. How could even Charlotte lose her sanity? What caused it? Who caused it? All these questions were swirling around in her mind.

“Oh, you’ll live with her, alright. You’ll be close to Mary as you both are chained up at the bottom of a dungeon in the middle of fucking nowhere! You’ll be as happy as you can be every time I fuck you both to the brink of insanity!”

“Mary,” Charlotte said. “Kill that stupid thing already, would you? That newbie Representative is nothing compared to either of us.”

“What—what are you saying you are…?” Mary gasped. It couldn’t be. It better not be.

“Hahaha! What are you saying, Mary? Have you forgotten that I had once contracted Virgo?” Charlotte sounded ecstatic, as much as Virgo.

“When… where—I cannot remember,” Mary said in an uneven tone, confused.

“Ahhh, you are still broken even now. What a horrible Master you have, Mary,” Charlotte remarked cruelly. “Now, go kill her, then we can spend our time just like we used to in the past.”

“Bloody hell you two!” Mary cursed, stomping against the floor. “All of this is wrong! All of this!”

Her hand reached out to her neck as she vied for her breath, the ethereal chain forming slightly to restrain the kind of thoughts Mary was having. Likely, she imagined for a moment the peaceful outcome—the good times back in the café to be back.

“Worry no more, my dear. I’ll absolve you of that leash, then Charlotte.” Claudia pointed upwards to her former friend. “I’m coming for you next.”

Mary’s golden eye turned hollow and a hilt came out. She grasped it and pulled out a sword as black as the night sky, it burned in silence with a majesty aura of sharp power. She gave it a swing and it felt as though the sword was more than sharp enough to cut the air itself due to the speed she displayed. She then took a deep breath and suppressed her emotions. It was time to fight, and be done with this nightmare.

“Let us settle this, Claudia,” Mary said coldly.

“Gladly,” Claudia said, spinning her scythe into the comfort of her palms. All with a smile.

Michael could hear the conversation between Mary and the two other voices. It was Claudia and the one who was known as Charlotte, both are—were Mary’s friends. He felt a tinge of regret in his stomach as he had failed to save Claudia, and now Mary had to fight her former friend. He knew it would be against her wishes, but he had to help her; not because of his promise to Bram nor his duty, but because she was a valued friend.

“Did God prohibit love, though? Doesn’t really make sense to me. Priest or not, when a woman gives a man the sign of her feelings, it’s the man’s job to accept it, and follow along.” Michael smiled to himself as he remembered Hare’s words. A friend he made back in the Eastern Magic Academy who was a Hime Miko of the Shrine Organization.

(GM Comment: So basically, Michael was like 1 cm close to getting onto Mary’s route to win her love and shit, officially.)

He could barely move, but he could feel the potion working on his injuries, and he hoped that he could do something with his mana problem. The pain from his earlier battle and the overuse of his spell hadn’t subsided yet, but it was manageable. He knew he had to hurry up and assist Mary, and with their leader’s help he hoped they could take this fight. Using his sheathed sword as a crutch, he pushed himself up and groggily spoke to Aramus, “Magister, Miss Mary needs our help.”

“Time to get our hands dirty again.” Aramus flicked his fan out, glaring at who was once his adoptive sister. Perhaps there was a part of her that still remained but as a Magister, duty came before self even if it pained him. Still, he had been appalled by the drivel that was spewing from her mouth, which was definitely not befitting of a young lady! What kind of deviant had she become!?

“She was an important person to you once, wasn’t she?” Michael asked while he limped.

“She was my sister,” Aramus said with no small amount of sadness.

“Your sister?” Michael was shocked. He assumed she had been the Magister’s former lover or something similar.

“We were from the same orphanage. As you can see, she has changed very much from the little girl I knew. Still keeps that blasted tiara on her head though,” Aramus said wryly. “Wouldn’t go anywhere without it.”

“I do recall your advice regarding that tiara.” Michael grinned mischievously. “Want to try and distract her with it, then?”

“What, you want to take it off her pretty little head?” Aramus said with an equal grin.

“No, no. We are requisitioning it for the noble purpose of pissing her off.” Michael could finally confirm that the potion had rejuvenated him enough to stand on his own.

“All aboard that train. We should wait for a good time to strike.”

(BGM: http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=XUFs2cPJpdI&p=n)

Mary and Claudia both dashed at the same time. An intense wind escaped after their blades clashed. The scythe was heavier and it appeared superior, yet Claudia felt as though she was up against an invisible wall. Regardless, their speed and agility were unlike any human magus, and their spectators could hardly follow them with their eyes as they darted all around the arena.

Finally, Claudia’s scythe drew the first blood from her adversary’s flank, but Mary showed resilience and barely any sign of pain on her face.

“Don’t look so happy,” Mary said. It seemed like Mary hardly swung the sword as she held it, but after a moment passed, Claudia was struck in three different parts of her body almost at the same time by Mary’s blade.

Standing firm after Mary’s barrage, Claudia chuckled in between her grunts. “Oh, would it pain you to see me that way?” As she spoke, a puddle formed under her feet, undoubtedly due to her Commandment. Claudia shook her head and shrugged. “Londoners, I swear. Too far gone under the scale of time that they even vilify enjoyment.”

“How ironic, considering you were a Londoner like us. I am sure the kind of enjoyment you seek is vilified even in current times,” Mary said. Instead of jumping back, she stabbed Claudia in her stomach. “Was it not the same for your slavers?”

The ephemeral beasts rose from the darkness. Claudia, ignoring Mary’s remarks, commanded her creatures, “Go.”

Mary put up her black sword—retracting it from the stomach of the vampire—against the fangs of the creatures struck against it. Overwhelmed by the strength, she was pushed all the way out of the arena. By the time she looked up to Claudia, she was already stuck against the rocky wall that was pulverized along with her. Blood trickled down from her skull, coming down from her hair, and she found a wound on her stomach too. Strangely, the two were equal like that. How did Claudia caught up to her level so soon? Or was Mary getting rusty from doing other things in her long life as a Representative?

Claudia abruptly turned and quirked her scythe, but she was a little late; Mary pierced her heart. This was the true speed of Mary Linfield. At the same time, Claudia struck at her chest too, albeit compared to Mary her hit was shallow.

“So a Representative of vampires do not die from having her heart pierced…?”

Chuckling, Claudia stared down at Mary with a crazed look. “It’s gonna take more than that to take me down.” She spat blood onto Mary’s deep blue Victorian dress as she said this. She gave her scythe another swing, but Mary leapt and stepped on it before the vampire moved it again.

Mary came down from above and another flurry of thrusts took place. Unlike Claudia, Mary was so agile that she was almost like a mythological figure that committed impossible feats. It was as though she was flying. Her visage could barely be seen as she dashed about around her.

Claudia’s brightly shining red eyes, however, could follow most of these movements unlike ordinary human beings.

And that’s when Mary was caught in midair.

Claudia emanated with Infernal mana as she held her hand out to Mary, holding her above her own feet. “Haven’t used this in a while,” Claudia said, grinning. “Let’s hope this’ll only maim you to an extent, yeah?”

“Are you sure about this?” Mary asked, showing a rare grin.

“Positive, you smug bitch. You want me to squeeze harder?”

“Do it.”

Taking that as a challenge, Claudia clenched her fist, hoping that would get a reaction out of her former friend.

Claudia saw what seemed like a glint from Mary’s golden eye, and her blade cut the air before her, displaying its sharpness. Mary landed onto the arena again while Claudia could no longer feel her Infernal mana.

While she was shocked, Mary’s jet black blade sailed from up to down and then left to right as she danced to pick up momentum and thus put on another barrage for Claudia, who soon started to block the volley.

“...W-What the hell did you just do?” Claudia said, taken aback.

“I cut your spell. Did you really think it made you all-powerful?” Mary said, continuing to attack.

“While I admit that I thought it would give me an edge, no one’s all-powerful.”

“I see. You grew up. I am so proud.”

Claudia glanced downward and scoffed, ignoring her words.

“That’s a nice sword, by the way. Where’d you get it?”

“Why would you want to know? You have a nicely crafted scythe right there.”

“True. But yours just… speaks to me, y’know? On the bright side, at least you use it better than I ever could.”

“I do not think so, even if I do not quite understand. That said, I have one thing here that might know what you mean.”

Mary’s golden eye turned hollow again and she drew out a large, black serrated blade that The Society had once gifted to Claudia. She held it with her left hand and drew an “x” with both the swords she held on Claudia’s body.

With a shattering noise of a glass, Claudia felt as though her stomach was almost severed in two. She saw the remnants of her blood-red necklace that was broken, an item given to her by her cherished Countess to protect her life now lost.

Fuck! This woman has no respect for my belongings!

(GM Comment: Says the woman who spat on Mary’s dress.)

Sliding backwards, Claudia squatted down to catch her breath. “God… have I already lost this much blood? And against Mary of all people.” She glanced to her shouldered scythe and quirked a brow. Having fun? You’ve been quiet.

“You do know you’re being watched, right? By your favorite employer… we can’t fucking fail her again.”

“Hehe, right...” Claudia stood up and cracked her tired bones. “You get those for free, Shelley…” Once again, the Infernal black portal formed under Claudia’s feet, and then, the beasts of shadow came forth. With a smile, Claudia pointed to Mary, sending them her way. “Now, you’re gonna have to work for it.”

The Infernal monsters attacked Mary from all three directions and pinned her down with a devastating blow where she stood. When the smoke and debris cleared, Claudia found Mary standing still as the creatures bit onto her.

“For Charlotte…” Mary began as she started to walk with unnatural strength, dragging Claudia’s pets with her. “This is nothing!”

A final dash and her pair of black swords landed against both of Claudia’s shoulders. The sharp blades grazed her skin, wracked the bones, and torrents of blood flooded out. She then spun again as if dancing, and the edges of the swords passed through the pursuing demons, killing them.

Claudia and Mary clashed yet again.

“Push more. More. MORE! Give me more spiritual energy for fuck’s sake!!” the scythe shouted in Claudia’s mind.

In the speed of the moment, Claudia swung her scythe as hard as she could, knowing that she could die here if she did not take Lachesis’ orders into account. Her love, her anger, and all of her sorrow went into this final attack, colliding with Mary as hard as she could manage. The scythe started to glow with her spiritual energy as a violet hue was given away.

Mary’s sword gave away a golden hue as she did the same to match up to Claudia’s power. Shockwaves formed as the two refused to give up. Finally, the scythe of her opponent pulled through and the platinum blade traveled deep into her flesh. Thus, Mary was forced back. Not having lost her balance completely, she was still standing. She leapt up and struck at Claudia again.

Claudia, who had put a lot of her power into that last swing, could hardly take a moment to block in time. Her body felt sluggish and her weight felt as though it was doubled.

Clang!

Claudia looked up. Her head was clearly not bifurcated. Two objects fell to the left and right. Claudia looked down as Mary moved back after striking.

Her tiara was laying on the floor.

Shattered in two.

She fell onto her knees. A polarizing shiver shot through her body as Claudia came in terms with herself that whatever memory she had left of her parents was gone. She hated her parents, but… what on earth was she so shocked for? She was trembling as tears fell down her cheeks, her mood teetering precariously on whether to break down crying, or demolish everything and everyone in her path.

Maybe a bit of both.

Once the tips of her fingers came into contact with the two halves, she screamed as loud as she could, slamming her fists into the ground until her very knuckles bled. She scratched at the sides of her head and spiraled with anguish. Who did it? She wanted to find whoever did it, so she could swallow them whole. Nay, for this, she wanted to swallow the world and everyone in it. She wanted it gone. She didn’t care anymore.

“MY TIARA… MY TIARA—M-MOM, D-DAD. DON’T LEAVE ME.”

As Claudia yelled from the top of her lungs, her eyes started to shine purple. The influence of Lachesis’ Fang coursed through her veins, finally reaching her brain. She then quirked her lips and smiled. It seemed like the weapon used the very spiritual energy Claudia supplied to her, and used it against her.

“Tch, cheeky bitch,” Lachesis spoke through Claudia, holding her temples. Her voice a mix of her own and that of Claudia’s. One of the eyes turned back to the old red. Lachesis couldn’t win over Claudia’s mind fully after all. “Fuck if I care! Let’s go skewer that bitch!!” the souls of the two screamed with the same mouth, crazed and agitated.

With a dash, Claudia initiated another bout of attacks at her old friend, while Mary did the same despite blocking at the same time. They fought furiously with their weapons gleaming with spiritual energy, taking the table to the next level. Each clash radiated the energy and even her spectators felt were feeling uncomfortable, and it was harder to watch it due to their agile movements. As expected of the power of the Representatives, the arena’s floors were starting to shatter seemingly randomly, not because of the energy but the two’s near-instant bouts across the place.

Finally, the old clock above Charlotte Brontë broke and the glass shattered, falling upon her. Her visage fizzed out, revealing that it was an illusion, an image constructed from elsewhere, and it soon vanished as the Representatives fought desperately.

Mary and Claudia’s blades continued to clash rapidly and the flashes of steel were visible almost everywhere. In a dead-lock again after the dance of steel, Mary and Claudia competed with spiritual energies again, Claudia putting her hand up while Mary ducked and held her ground, Claudia’s Heart Shatter was up against a cold and steeled will. They stared each other down, Mary’s golden eye shining and Claudia’s body radiating Infernal power.

When the struggle ended after Lachesis and Claudia decided that it was futile, it ended in them both getting pushed away.

“You have gone mad!” Mary shouted.

“WELL WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO HAPPEN? OF COURSE I HAVE!” Claudia shouted back.

This was likely the hardest battle Claudia has ever had, and perhaps Lachesis’ action was deliberately done to fulfill the objective of the Countess. Whatever the case, it raised her odds of winning as her full potential was released.

They dashed at the same time and met each other up-close once more. Claudia’s chest was struck with the large serrated black sword, but the vampire cut it in two with her platinum scythe, the blade of The Society was no match for the relic crafted by Iris.

Finally, Claudia landed a deep slash on the Victorian lady, who fell down to the stage as the floor under her shattered. The threads of cracking stones spread to the corners in a matter of moments. Mary’s ephemeral chain surrounding her neck cracked. Claudia started walking up to the fallen Victorian lady, her eyes teary but her lips smiling. Merging with Lachesis like this, she was twisted beyond belief.

Responding even before Mary hit the ground, Aramus activated Thor’s Might and sped towards Claudia, intent on stopping her from getting to Mary.

Reacting instantaneously to his charge, Claudia whirled her scythe and sliced. They clashed, sending electricity sparking and Aramus gritting his teeth at her power. Nowhere near Virgo, but still much stronger than him. Stuck as he was, Aramus had the chance to finally see her, what she had become and it was in this split second of weakness that Claudia cut through his guard with a wounded howl, the scythe resonating with her.

Sent flying by her blow, Aramus landed in a heap beside Mary as his spell deactivated. He brought a hand to where she had struck him, trying to stem the bleeding from the deep gash. Biting through some of the pain, he pulled himself closer to Mary.

Is this it for me…? I suppose I cannot fight like usual with Charlotte being that way. I cannot give up now, I need to go to her but… am I not too broken to do any of that? Mary looked up to the lunar ceiling, having idle thoughts now of all times. She looked down at Claudia, letting out a sigh. I am sorry that I could not save you completely. It was my fault. With the Magister now beside her, she wanted to tell him to leave her be and take care of Claudia, but she was too tired to speak.

Michael saw the Magister turn into a literal lightning bolt. While he was lacking a spell to do the same, he flicked his wrist and then swung an arm towards Claudia, sending his chain spear her direction. He was sprinting towards the Representative when the chains wrapped around her arm as she was about to swing her scythe. Michael pulled the chain, hoping to stop her, but it just snapped like a thread as she swung. The chain snapped back and Michael fell flat on his back from the whiplash, but he managed to follow it through into a roll backwards. He immediately drew his gun and pointed it at Claudia when he saw Aramus landing beside Mary so he decided to shoot at her to get her attention away from the two.

(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZUR0qWkEvk

For a split second, Claudia’s consciousness returned fully as a glimpse of red replaced the purple in her other eye. The smile Lachesis coaxed out of her disappeared as well. She glanced at the Priest—Michael—and spotted a peculiar coat. She had seen that coat somewhere before, she knew it. But for some reason, the Vampire couldn’t find the name in her head.

“Marco?” she finally questioned. More tears followed with that last word, and even more rage as she assumed the worse. Marco wouldn’t have just lent the coat to his sworn enemy.

“That bastard killed him…” she choked out, her breath hitching in her lungs.

“Died a coward’s death. If I didn’t end him then, he would’ve begged for mercy. So you can thank me for preserving his dignity,” Michael mocked, shrugging. He hoped that Aramus would take this cue to take Mary out of here.

“Bastard…” Claudia looked towards the ground and brooded, clenching her scythe tightly. “I won’t forgive you for this… I will never… ever…. forgive you for this.”

“Have I asked you for it?”

“…No, I suppose not. You won’t need to anymore… because I will swallow your soul—all of you. Hell is your only destination.” Claudia’s eyes were hollow as she glanced back to the Priest, her expression nondescript.

“Ladies first.” Michael pointed his gun towards Claudia.

Black feathers fluttered and stormed around Claudia as a hand was placed on her bloody shoulder.

“That’s enough, my dear,” the Countess said, appearing beside her. “You have fulfilled your objective.”

“...They… they killed Marco… they killed him… I must… I need to…”

“That there is the Mirror of the Scales,” the Countess said, not looking up to Michael, Aramus, nor Mary; she looked behind them. “You mustn’t go there.”

A portal was open behind them, and a chain was there that none other noted. The chain was connected to Mary.

“S-Stop…!!” Mary shouted. “Master, plea—” Mary screamed in pain. The ephemeral chain stuck to her neck pulsed and gave out an unknown type of power.

When Michael heard Mary say “master” he dropped his aim and started to run towards the portal, completely forgetting about the Countess and her Representative who were in front of him. Mister Bram, Mary…

“S-Stop him!” Mary said to Aramus. “Hurry!”

There was a force—a powerful wave—and a ringing noise.

The wind rumbled and the fan was whipped by Aramus to manipulate the wind just in time to stop Michael, otherwise he’d likely have been blown away.

The chain broke and it finally fell off Mary’s neck. Her golden eye turned hollow and she froze; lifeless.

The priest turned to face Mary, and knowing that something went wrong, he immediately ran back to her.

“Michael… and… Aramus?” Mary uttered, as if she woke up from a dream.

“Mary!” Michael grasped her hand and gripped it. “I’m… here. I told you—I’d chase you.”

Aramus grasped the other free hand as he searched her over, worrying about what effect the chain had on her. “You’ll be fine, we’ll make sure of it.”

“I see.” She seemed to examine the faces of the two closely, as if she met them for the first time. “So that is how it was.” Mary smiled, as if content with life at last. “You two should leave. I am going to remain here.”

“Don’t be an idiot, you’re coming with us,” Michael replied.

“How the hell could we leave you behind?” Aramus nodded alongside the priest.

“Listen to me, Aramus… I am sorry.” Mary’s smile was full of pain and despair, but she did so regardless, she was happy at the same time. “We… never found the time to decide on your name, and left you behind that day beside the streets… I do not believe that I am forgivable, but I want you to know that you were not an orphan. I had truly failed you, and I still regret many things. Your father yet wanders across the world—he still lives. Your half-sister is there too, somewhere with my surname, Linfield.” Mary turned to Michael. “Michael, please listen carefully, you are his half-brother. Your father is… my Master. Let go of your promise, there is nothing you can do to †˜save’ me from him. This was my fate, and I had accepted it a long time ago, I was only living a delusion as I wanted to be free from my burdens. Mister Bram never knew the whole story.”

“Mary, what are you talking about?” Aramus asked in disbelief even as his grip on her tightened.

“What?” Michael looked as if Mary was delusional.

“Look at you two,” Mary said, chuckling dryly. “Your hairs are right there, sharing the same color as mine. Is that not enough? How many people do you see with our weird trait anyway?”

Aramus brought her hand to his lips, tears beginning to fall. His parents and now, a real sister. As his vision was warped by the tears, he realized that the visage of his mother he saw that day in the Infernal Realm’s trial matched with the person who was before him now.

“That’s just coincidence, isn’t it?! We must bring her to the healers! Oi, idiot mage! Stop crying and take her out of here!” Michael refused to listen to her. Why would he? He already had a mother, and his father wasn’t relevant at all in his life. But even then, his grip on her hand loosened and his expression was in shock.

Nodding frantically, Aramus scooped Mary up in his arms and stood up painfully. “I’ll get you fixed up, you can’t leave us. Don’t you dare, not after so long.”

An intense pain was felt in the back of his head, and Aramus knelt back down. Blood ran down from his eyes. He let go of the lady from his hands to where she belonged.

“Plebeians, you dare touch my woman? Know your place!”

A violent wind blasted out from the portal and a ringing noise was heard.

“It’s been a long time,” the Countess said with a smirk. “Since the time you invaded Mount Olympus, I believe?”

“Hoh, I see you are here, King’s Favorite.”

A figure emerged from the portal. A man Claudia had once witnessed dancing with Mary in the ball of the Queen’s Meeting. Handsome, very painfully handsome, so much that she could hardly compete with him back then.

“How have you been, Jesus Christ? Still writing a new Bible?”

“I doubt I need to publish more for the rats that are humans. I would think one shall suffice.”

Both of them burst out laughing at the same time.

“I apologize a little. Your little slave was perhaps a bit too nosy. So we put her to where she belongs,” the Countess said sarcastically.

“Well, I suppose it was well-deserved considering how side-tracked she was.” He then turned back to Mary laying on the crushed floor. “Ignorant girl, you have the precious blood of the Virgin Mary, and you dare spill them all around the place? How disgraceful.”

“You monster…! Are you not happy enough that you stole my life; my friend, my mother, my lover; and even my children?!” Mary cried out, but she was too tired to raise her voice further. “...But I suppose that is enough for me. It is over for me,” she stated, closing her eyes as she did so in acceptance before looking back to her sons. “More importantly, you two have your lives ahead of you, both of you must live on.”

“I won’t leave you here,” Aramus said stubbornly as he looked from the portal to the Countess and Claudia, his vision somewhat red from the bloody tears he had. “Not with these… wretches. No, you’re coming home with me, just like that one time.”

Michael stood up, his head tilted downwards. Drops of tears fell from his eyes as he unsheathed his blade. Restrictions be damned. Even if his sword… his body would break today it wouldn’t matter; he had already lost far beyond that. Michael started to glow silver as he used all he had remaining to cast one last spell. He would impose the spell Penance Stare upon his Lord.

“Oh? You would challenge me, Jesus? With that spell? Very well. They do not call me the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church for no reason.”

Jesus waved his hand before him. Stars materialized over his head and revolved. A spiral ring—also revolving—formed behind him too.

The bizarre power of the ancient Descendant was unleashed.

“In the name of Heaven I invoke the Scales. Come, may Lady Luck judge your fate!”

A sound akin to a bell was heard shortly, and Michael felt the anguish and terror of a thousand sinners in hell—no, a few millions of sinners in hell at least. What he truly felt was something beyond guilt—farther and deeper than remorse was eating away at his being. He could feel his brain burning from this feeling, as if it was melting, the anger and despair built up rapidly, working hand-in-hand, the power was toxic to him and it was evaporating all the so-called good values he may have had. But his rage was all he needed, and that was all he was now. One by one, his memories, his feelings finally faded away. Like steam it rose into the sky and dispersed. He fell to his knees as they lost strength, his sword clanging beside him as his arms drooped at his sides.

Everything was disappearing—except for his anger. Tears kept flowing down his face, but he defiantly remained staring eye to eye with the Descendant, his father.

Claudia watched as this all unfolded, albeit uninterested of who or what the father of her enemies turned out to be. Though she hummed once she figured out how Mary herself and the whole Virgin Mary story made sense. With bags under her eyes, she averted them with distaste. “Tch…”

Mary immediately reached out for Michael with her only free hand and placed it on his forehead. “I call upon the Descendant of eld! Please, cleanse this soul of anomalies.” Something in Mary’s chest glowed, and Michael’s mind was starting to clear up again.

Mary ushered Aramus towards her right hand. “Take my sword with you. It is yours now. Not much, but at least something for an inheritance, and as for you, Michael…” Mary then retracted her hand that she placed on him and pulled a pendant out through the openings of her dress around her neck. “Take this with you. One day, I am sure that it will protect you, and those who will be with you. Laura too, perhaps. Make sure to keep her safe. Please take it and go, we do not have much time.”

Aramus refused to take his eyes off her face but accepted her gift to him, feeling like it would be the one and only thing he would ever receive from his mother. He gripped the hilt tightly, thorns darting around and entangling him up to his forearm.

“Upon your name and sword, I will burn away those who have harmed you.”

Michael took Mary’s pendant when he realized he could move again. “I will make him pay.” He gazed downcast as he swore and picked his sword up. “I will obtain the ultimate power… and I will make him pay.”

Mary shook her head. “Revenge is an utterly petty idea. It will surely lead to your end.” she repeated her words from before. She smiled. Somehow this felt more motherly coming from her. “Simply know that I love you both, Aramus, Michael, not to mention my daughter.” She then looked at Aramus specifically, “Your father… and my family. Now leave.”

After Mary spoke for the final time, the color of her body started to fade. In a single moment, Mary’s body lost its life.

Michael remembered this color. The black-and-white Mary was detached from time itself.

Aramus and Michael would never forget Mary’s smile, how she was content with life, and her closed eyes as she came to acceptance with what was bound to happen to her.

Aramus then looked back at the Descendant known as Jesus Christ, who seemed to be looking down at Mary, his left eye was glowing gold—much like Mary’s right golden eye.

Mary’s body started to vanish and evaporate, breaking apart like stone, and then melted.

“What is mine shall return to me,” Jesus stated. “You both have touched my woman enough.”

“I will destroy you. All of you.” Michael tried to stand up, but he could barely support himself. “This world needs no Descendants.” His red swollen eyes was filled with hate, so much hate that it seemed like the eyes of the demons he once killed.

“Jesus Christ! You have no faith, do you?” Mary’s Master said mockingly like any semi-faithful man of the current world would say, before sighing and shaking his head. “You should thank me, son, for I allowed you to tour across the world—made your passport—sent you after that fool of a Representative of vampires and now you have come a long way.” He laughed heartily. “Quite the pilgrimage, wouldn’t you think?”

“I WILL END YOU, MONSTER!” Michael shouted with the last of his strength.

“Get bent, you fuck,” Claudia droned lethargically. She was too tired to issue a clever enough insult.

A sharp crunching noise punctuated their conversation, the black sword cleaved into the ground. Aramus had been frozen ever since his mother had left smiling, dissolving before his very eyes. While Michael, no, his brother, had spoken with his own monster of a father, Aramus had been rendered still by the thoughts swirling through his mind, the pain of discovering and losing his mother in the same day.

That he had family, that he was indeed loved by someone after all this time. It was too much for him and he lashed out with the sword, cutting some of the ground in his frustration and sorrow. He rose to his feet unsteadily, wiping his tears with a sleeve.

“You think you are above us, that you can toy with our lives as you please, that your immortality makes you better than us—you are greatly mistaken. There was a time when you were people like us, with hopes and dreams, with love and pain like our lives… when you were once mortals.” Aramus seethed, the wind picking up around him in a maelstrom. The tornado grew stronger, lifting him and his brother off the ground as Aramus brought them away to safety. He glared at both Descendants and then Claudia, his sister no longer. “We will teach you that no one lives forever. You will both know what it means to fear again.”

“Hmph, flies, they buzz overmuch,” Jesus commented before exiting through the portal he came. “We shall meet again, Blood Countess.”

“We likely shall one day,” the Countess said with her trademark grin.

Once she was sure that the battle was over, Claudia wordlessly collapsed onto her knees, choking out sobs as the last of her strength left her body. Holding back dry heaves that returned in small intervals, she felt for the now empty space at the top of her head, grieving and whimpering. It was as if that small heirloom had been the only thing keeping her sane. Well, mostly.

“They... they t-took me away from my parents—m-my tiara—split in half—they split them in half—kill them—yes, kill them all... I want to kill, a-annihilate, erase, delete, devour, vanquish...”

“Did you not loathe your parents?”

“...I… I don’t even know anymore. I thought I did at first—I thought that I loathed them how I would anyone else, b-but…” Claudia clenched her stomach, as the whole idea of this happening at all made her sick.

Claudia vomited yet again.

“As days went by—as months past—I eventually w-warmed up to the thought of being a Diabolist—an e-ender of worlds. A killer. A freak. A monster.”

Ender of what? “As a child you were not †˜warmed’ up to it to begin with?”

“I… I wasn’t, Countess. I wanted to make friends and travel, and live as a normal girl—a putrid fucking clueless girl—like all the others—the fucking mundane children who would vilify me anyways. I… I cannot live such a life anymore—pretending. Wanting to be normal and kind and dignified. It’s not worth it anymore…” Claudia barely managed to string sentences together. They were a mix between her manically vulgar side and how she spoke in general.

“Do you want a parental figure so much?”

“...Only someone who truly cares about me—without turning around to stab me in the back the next fucking second—because of a c-choice I’ve made. I want someone who cares, Countess.” Claudia’s whimpering had eventually come to a halt, and she lifted her head. A glazed look appeared in her eyes, blank and full of empty sorrow. “...But what’s the use in such an earthly thing anymore? In a life where we will eventually die, or lose those whom we care about… it’s all meaningless now. You stopped caring a long time ago, haven’t you, Countess?”

The Countess sighed. “I just wanted to say that you had one right here. You’re so overdramatic sometimes, my dear.”

“That’s kind of you. That’s so kind of you, Countess. But I don’t need sympathy anymore—I don’t deserve it, anyhow.” Claudia stood on her own two feet and glanced at the ceiling. “Sorry if I seem to be the God damned actress of the year. I’ve been too lenient with myself and everyone around me. There will be changes to be made, that’s for sure.”

“How should I say it? It’s as though you travel in a zig-zag style. One time you say you want it, another time you say you don’t. Then something happens and you start something anew. Dear, I love you—I really mean it—but if this is how you want to do it… it pains me but I suppose I shall be more professional with you from now on.”

“Is that a challenge? That's completely fine, then.” Claudia chuckled, a stray tear forming in her eye. “I love you too, Countess, but you witnessed firsthand that my entire life is a zig-zag. Look closely, for this is the last tear that I will shed for the rest of my long life. For eternity.”

“We shall see. Your life is long, o daughter of the vampires—such promises never last so long. However, if you do wish to challenge the inevitable, be my guest.”

“…Right.” Claudia dusted herself off and sighed, completely sure her anger for the world was sincere. “So what’s the next move?”

“Find Sagittarius. That’s your next job.”

Claudia nodded. “Understood. I’ll watch her bleed to death.”

As Svetlana and Lily started to progress deeper into the lunatic caverns, it seemed like they were progressing upwards.

“Why do you think the air is like this here?” Lily questioned Svetlana. Perhaps a teacher in a Magic Academy would know. “It seems to have mana here…”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I don’t ever recall something like this being taught to us.”

“I see… did you also… hear voices?”

“Yes. I take it we were made to hear that so we would lose our will to fight, or it was to just mess around with us.”

“I… don’t think so. I feel like this is how this place is. Did you only hear voices of the past?”

“As far as I could tell, yes. By the way, did that idiot Aramus tell you guys about Virgo’s Commandments? Since he was suppose to do that after he went up in the helicopter.”

“Virgo’s Commandments? I don’t think I’ve heard of it before…”

“Basically, there are four of them. The first of the four is the World Buster, one that she probably just used but I’m not sure. It deletes everything in an 180 degree arc from whichever direction she is facing. Chaos Utopia, it manipulates what we consider uncertainty and freezes it. Basically, no matter what we do, anything bad will not befall her. The third is Siren’s Prayer where she calls upon spirits from the Faerie Realm to bolster her spiritual abilities. The last is the Maiden’s Curtain. A barrier only a pure-hearted woman may breach if she gives it her all. That’s pretty much the jist of it.”

“And he was hiding these details from everyone?!”

“Apparently he forgot. I suppose after he finished thinking about how he fondled her breast, he remembered.”

“...He what? Fondle? Huh?”

“That idiot instead of hitting her when he landed on top of her just sat there grabbing her breast!”

“Ahh… that somehow sounds like a mistake Aramus would make,” Lily said with a wry smile.

“If that was a mistake he sure took his time with it. Only reason he stopped was because he was blown off! He even had the audacity to touch me after he was blown off!”

“Oh, so he groped you too?”

“Well he was blown on top of me. He did place his hand on my chest when he trying to stand.”

Lily snickered. “So that is what you’re mad about.”

“More like why couldn’t he strike her when he had an opportunity to.”

“Haha, alright, alright,” Lily said, despite thinking her guess was more correct.

“Is this all for chit-chat?”

A different voice was heard. The mist cleared and a blonde woman wearing a white dress stood about ten meters ahead of them. She appeared to be particularly foreign in her get-up.

Svetlana took out her dagger as she was not sure if this person was an enemy or not.

“Who are you?”

“Welcome. My name is Judgement Summoner—a Representative of Virgo—and I shall face you and your friend. Otherwise you will not be able to progress,” the self-proclaimed Representative answered.

“Tch, here I thought I could get to Virgo with no pesky people around. Lily, you ready?”

“Yes,” Lily said, drawing her large broadsword. “As we planned, I will be the vanguard.”

“Roger. I’ll support you from the rear.”

(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9pL-BIoUic)

Lily ran towards with her broadsword, attacking her after reaching melee range. Judgement Summoner attempted to hit back but the sword was towering and long and cut at her bicep instead, yet it didn’t seem as though the Representative felt any pain, she looked down at her with a cold gaze.

“You’re strong,” Judgement Summoner commented, her body starting to glow. “But that will not be enough!”

Svetlana ran forward right behind Lily. She clapped her hands twice as she readied a ball of flame atop her palm. As soon as she felt that she was at a better range, she threw the burning spear at the Representative.

The flame struck against the barrier of the Representative. Some magical sparks were made.

“I see you guys are in a hurry. That is boring. Entertain me!” Judgement Summoner said with a cheer, but the flame burned through her just at that moment. “Somehow I feel like I look like a clown because of that…” Judgement Summoner frowned.

“You talk too much,” Lily said, swinging her blade again.

Judgement Summoner said while dodging, “And you talk too little.” By the time Lily hurt her again, the Representative started chanting. “O stars, grant me thy radiance. So that the stars and lights may shower the earth once more!” She started to glow more.

She then dashed, when Lily stepping back in panic, not expecting her to pursue her when she was trying to overpower her with such speed. The palm of Judgement Summoner pressed deeply against Lily’s chest. For a moment, a resounding noise of something shattering was heard, and everything around Lily was discolored as she fell on her back.

“W-What…?!” Lily managed to utter just barely, taken aback by the unsettling shock.

“Maybe if you talked less, you would’ve noticed me behind you,” Svetlana said as she took the Representative by storm and tapped her hand on her back—casting Vibrato—and quickly stepped back, following up with another Flame Spear spell. The exotic lady jumped immediately and the flame went towards Lily, who rolled on the ground to avoid it.

“Well, this is a bit annoying…” Judgement Summoner commented. The vision of the woman was uneven, and she held her temple for a moment.

“Tch, how about this then?” Svetlana said as she joined her index and middle finger. Fire that seemed to move like the wind was shot out towards the Representative. As soon as her fire touched her, she turned into sparkling dust that glowed in the dark and misty cavern and fell down to the ground. She reformed behind Svetlana.

“Look out!” Lily shouted and swung her sword. Svetlana ducked and the broadsword gorged out blood from the Representative deeply.

“Not bad,” the Representative managed, outstretching her hand towards both Lily and Svetlana as her palm shined with holy power.

Svetlana quickly clapped her hands. Soon after, a sphere made of ice surrounded her and Lily.

“May the sinners be purged!” the mage of Starlight chanted, and a beam burned and shattered Svetlana’s ice sphere in less than a second after it was formed. Lily immediately attacked again but she jumped backwards, her movements as graceful as a swan.

Svetlana chanted, then placed her hand onto the ground. Something was growing out of the ground, but soon it crumbled. “Tch, I suppose I needed better concentration for this soil.”

“May the light of the stars shower the earth!” Judgement Summoner raised her arm towards the heavens, and the surroundings as far as Svetlana and Lily could see showed the space—the stars—and the various galaxies of the universe.

The stars fell from above as if they were truly falling from the sky and rained down upon the entire field so fast that they couldn’t even blink. Explosions upon explosions ravaged the place, and it seemed like Lily was unlucky as quite the number of blinding pillars of light crashed upon her.

“Just what kind of magic is this? Whatever, she’s in our way anyway.” Svetlana clapped her hands twice again and began a chant. A whirlwind began to form below the Representative.

As the stars fell, the wind was barely affecting her.

That’s when Svetlana realized for the first time, this magic and this Representative were beyond ordinary. Judgement Summoner’s eyes glowed brightly and her form was shining magnificently in the dark and the mists, like a beacon compared to a lighthouse in the stormy seas.

The view of the space and stars vanished, and the world around Lily and Svetlana returned to normal. The energy was starting to intensify, and it seemed as though Judgement Summoner was about to explode and destroy everything around her, but it instead calmed and her glow returned to its normal levels.

“...It seems like I’ve got to go now. Too bad I couldn’t show off more of my Starlight spells. I commend you two. Not many could survive fighting me this long,” the woman said, her tone much colder than before.

“Just what are you?”

“The ancient priestess of the Lost Form of Starlight, as well as a Representative of Virgo. I believe I answered it before?”

“Lily, you ever heard of Starlight before?”

“No…” Lily answered, shaking her head.

“Anyway, my Mistress is up ahead. Go all-out on her if you feel like it. I’ll be taking off.” Her eyes turned starry, and she crumbled into a set of sparkling dust into the ground.

Weiss heard the Steel Princess’ voice when she was in the area nearby the Statue of Liberty. The challenge to humanity to seek her out in the moon shard. Thus, Weiss was also inside. It was also planned that she was supposed to come to this area if plans did went south.

It was perfect for her, all she’d have to do was find people she didn’t know and slaughter them. Some things, however, were starting to piece together. Her second encounter with Powlett might’ve been planned, now that she thought about this—a present from her employer, perhaps.

“I ruled over many countries and brought them together to make a state. The largest ever recorded. For humans to plot against me… revenge shall be taken.”

Weiss heard Steel Princess’—Virgo’s—voice as she passaged through the mysterious silver mists through which mana coursed inside the moon shard.

“I am a Goddess born from a Celestial being dwelling within me. This is my role—to command and conquer—lead and rule the people. To work for the world’s nature and protect it I must keep away the people from over harming it. Yet they dare take up arms against me to convince an old friend of mine to combat me? How arrogant.”

“I shall personally shape their kin to my liking, and have them bid their demise. This is the retribution of the War Goddess Ishtar—fear it well, mankind.”

I sense that the other people in the mist are dealing with their worst fears. She walked with her rifle ready. Good thing I’m on your side, boss lady. I don’t want to face my own husband here.

“Perhaps this was imminent… Steel Princess madam—they have tracked me down.”

“Steer clear of them?”

Weiss’ eyes widened. This was a conversation between her late husband and the Steel Princess, her employer. The Steel Princess’ voice sounded robotic, like the employer she once knew.

“Madam, I beg you that if something happens to me—take my wife in as my replacement.”

“Do not sacrifice yourself.”

“No, this is my punishment.”

“Punishment? Do you truly mean to atone now?”

“Yes, I will atone for having abandoned our child back in England… I am a terrible parent. I doubt my wife knows anything of this.”

“You… had a child with your wife?”

“I doubt she remembers. I had a specialist alter her memories.”

“Whatever the case, I shall accept your request. Your wife will be welcome to join my cause.”

“...I…” Weiss fell on her knees and hugged her rifle tight. For the first time after hundreds of years, she cried.

“I see you’ve fallen down to the abyss of emotions from the ghosts of the past,” a familiar voice pointed out. “Eh, Ackerman?”

It was Powlett yet again.

For one reason or another, they kept finding each other.

Perhaps it was destiny.

(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd2W5J8KgME)

“You…” Weiss rose up and punched Powlett in the face before he could even react, sending him flying. “You’re going to witness…” She cracked her knuckles and stared at Powlett with rage. “My full power!”

Powlett got up with a smirk, his cheek not even swollen as protective magic gave off a glint.

“Oh? So the husband did make you a hitman. How pitiful. Being a murderer is bad enough, but he goes to the extent to corrupt his wife too. Hahaha!!”

Weiss’ right eye twitched, “Don’t you even dare talk you scum!”

The insignia of Cancer appeared in Weiss’ eye, and an aura of silver emanated from her body.

Powlett’s sword gave off a mechanical roar. He dashed and sliced the air, the gears met against the metallic knuckles of Weiss. Sparks formed as the two vied for supremacy.

The android’s leg arced across the air, covered with what seemed like the mist itself, and kicked Powlett’s face. This was something the Duke couldn’t apply protective magic on for some unknown reason. The Duke countered and Weiss intercepted with her fist again. The impact allowed them both to create distance from each other, but they dashed back in under a moment to clash again. The friction was too much and neither budged. They pushed each other off again.

Running, the two raced, steel continuing to clash with steel. They ran straight up to the walls and fought over the vertical surface of the caverns as they ran along it as if it was natural. Even many mages wouldn’t be able to take on such extraordinary feats.

The Duke swung his sword as if it was truly an extension of himself with grace and speed, dealing multiple slashes at once, while Weiss continued fighting with her arms and legs that were covered with a misty wind, which was in fact her Commandment that delivered an illness.

Indeed, Duke Powlett was already infected by the virus the Descendant of Cancer sent out. The mage panted and sweated due to the infection.

“A Descendant, huh…? To think the wife of that bloody hitman became one.”

“Revenge never tasted sweeter, Powee.” Her Cancer sign shined as she clenched her fists. “You will rot, killer!” She snapped her fingers, activating her second Commandment.

“Heh, how petty, and to think the killer Judgement Sniper is saying all this…” Powlett said, screaming afterwards. Streams of blood flushed out, and his skin was torn apart. The blood were more gray than red, and tiny black particles resided in it, writhing with hunger to devour nutrients.

Weiss laughed at the sight, to see the very person that killed her husband slowly dying right in front of her. “Feeling sick, Powee? Good, that means I can kill you a lot faster!”

The two resumed their battle. Weiss’ fists started to contaminate the silver mists of the moon shard and the entire place was infected by her spiritual energy. A vortex formed around them as they struck at each other mercilessly. The Duke broke apart most of Weiss’ engines and even her mechanical eye, while the android broke quite a lot of bones of Powlett, especially his sword arm. Powlett was now using his greatsword with his left hand. Even then, he did particularly good despite not being used to it.

Finally, the Duke fell and was forced to lean against the wall after Weiss finished him with one last punch to his gut. Coughing blood, it seemed like he still gave out a bit of crimson rather than gray. He smiled at the android. Some of the organs inside him broke down, and he realized that his body was done for.

“I suppose it is your win, avenger.”

“I…” Weiss fell down on her knees, “Did it!” She raised her fist up and yelled, “Yes!” She stood back up, “Finally after all these years! I have avenged you, my dear!”

She then pulled out her husband’s rifle. “Sniper mode,” she whispered. She walked over to where Powlett was and pointed the rifle to his chest. “As promised, I will finish you with the very weapon that my husband used. After that I will have your sword as a reminder.” She smiled and continued, “If that’s okay with you,” she said politely.

“No problem. You are the victor, we go with your terms. Ahh, but I would like you not to ruin another one of my vitals… even if they are already ruptured. ” Powlett coughed yet again. “I was hoping to meet someone here, you see.”

“I see. Don’t worry, I’m still a nurse so I know what organs are already failing just from looking at your condition.” She held Powlett’s sword with her other hand and placed it on her thigh. “Were you hoping to meet your wife and child?” Weiss asked.

“Wife? Here? Well, I never quite had a family, but I did had an adopted daughter… very rebellious, that girl.”

“That still counts as family. What’s her name?”

“Claudia Virtusio de la Farris… ahaha, as you can see, she never really took on my name. Whatever. She still preferred her real family more.”

“But you still took care of her anyway, no?”

“Yeah… and was brilliantly betrayed.”

“I’m sure that deep down she’s glad that you took care of her, Powlett.”

“No, she likely saw me as a villain. I was indeed… the one at fault. I spoiled her by granting a surplus of freedom… heh. This is my just desserts.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk some sense into her if I ever encounter her.” She smiled.

“Well, if that is all then you should go on ahead…”

“To tell you the truth, I enjoyed talking to you.” Weiss pulled the trigger and shot Powlett’s shoulder. She then holstered her husband’s rifle on her back while holding Powlett’s chain sword.

“Are you done?”

Weiss turned, and found a familiar silver haired girl who was much shorter than her. It was Judgement Knight.

“Yes, it feels good to finally have revenge. Plus I have my hands on a new melee weapon,” she said while showing her newly obtained sword.

“Isn’t that nice?” Not really. “Anyway, Steel Princess awaits… we should also fix your engines.”

“At least pretend to be happy!” She sighed and continued, “Oh yeah, I forgot that several modules are broken.”

“Yes, so let’s hurry,” the knight said, walking into the mist.

“Alright alright, I’m the one with the busted modules here, at least help me!”

“Ew, no,” the comrade said with an indifferent expression. “You’re like the spreader of germs.”

“...” She facepalmed and tried to follow her comrade.

Phase 4:

When Michael entered the cave, he looked around. It was a spacious cavern, of sorts. There was magical energy flowing all over the place, so much that some of it was visible in the form of silver mist.

“Any way we can track them?” Michael asked, taking no heed of the mystical sights in front of him. He then found it strange to receive silence in return, and turned. Takeru and Elizabeth were not there with him.

He was all alone.

“Right then, any way to track anyone, Michael?”

He tried to look back from where he entered but found no trace of his companions, nor of the entrance. He removed his gun from its holster and started walking forward, seeing that he had no other option left anyway. His instincts were shouting at him that it was a trap and he was walking towards what might be his doom, but only animals would succumb to their instincts; Executioners walked towards the doors of hell to have tea.

“She is a fellow writer and—to people’s surprise—the actress of Juliet. She is also Mary Shelley.”

Michael heard some familiar voices and sentences he’d heard before.

“Good day to you, my name is Mary Shelley.”

“I w-wish you the same, Miss. Erm, my name’s... Michael, Michael Kallweit.”

Voices? This is when I met Miss Mary. This is not good. If they have a mage who can use Mentem, I am probably under their spell now if I am hearing voices. Michael raised his gun but continued walking forward, albeit at a slower pace. He wished he had a way to illuminate the area, but he’d have to rely on his quick judgements as he moved along.

“I will have you tonight instead.”

A twitch ran down his face as he heard the voice of Marco, the a pained voice of Laura was heard.

“Laura?!”

He heard his own voice.

“...Eh? Is that you… Michael? …To think I’d be bitten by a vampire of all things. This is pathetic…”

“Umm, well, if you don’t mind, y-you could sleep with me in my bed if you want.”

“Oi! Laura wake up! Shit, don’t get turned with a bite from that stalker pervert vampire! Laura!”

“You would fare better if you just shot me instead. This won’t do anything to me.” Michael spoke in a voice loud enough that he hoped the mage who was doing this would hear. If he showed a hole in his guard, against a Mentem mage, he already lost. He could wallow in despair and self-loathing later. For now, he had his duty.

“No, I am not one driven by vengeance or anger, simply my duty and nothing else. It does not matter which of us finishes him off, as long as we get the job done.”

“I don’t but… I really do love my mother, despite all that she did to me.”

“I… I killed my father.”

“Just… let me stay like this for a while… please.”

“...What would you want from me? Aside from my affiliations, I am powerless.”

“I am not quite sure, myself. I just think that… I think that I would regret not doing so.”

Again his own voice.

Michael stopped to close his eyes to try and sense if there was any presence around him. He sensed something that surprised him; he was surrounded by a holy aura. He opened his eyes and started walking once again. His gun was back in its place in his hip. It was the mist. It was coming from the Dominion Realm, he assumed.

“A-And, I think I am just misinterpreting things. I mean, I really do like you so—”

“...Well, i-it felt nice to me as well, I mean I like you to—wait, what are you making me say?!”

“Indeed I do, your Majesty, but may I first comment that you look simply spectacular tonight? It is an honour to meet you.”

“Now, I shall deliver the letter from the Pope as promised.”

“Laura?!”

“...Mi...chael… run… !”

Then the Commander of Knights screamed…

“ENOUGH!” Michael shouted, his anger finally broke through his shell. “Stop this nonsense and show yourself!”

“Huh? Some bastard here?”

Michael heard a familiar voice, and something emerged from the clouds of mists.

He saw the unmistakable coat and the gray hair and a devilishly handsome face that was tarnished with a frown. It was Marco, who seemed to have taken a turn throughout the paths here, and approached him due to the volume of his voice.

Michael wordlessly pulled out his gun and fired a bullet towards Marco in one swift action.

“Ah, you’re that irritating scum,” Marco scoffed. His familiar blocked the bullet, coming out of thin air to aid him.

Michael fired two more bullets. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his blood was boiling. Must kill him. Laura… Must. Kill. Him. Must. Eliminate. Judge. Execute.

The flying coat blocked those bullets too.

“I… will...”

“For the sake of Lady Claudia, I will…”

“End you!” they both yelled in unison.

(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxasRHKjFBk)

Michael charged towards Marco and his familiar, his body pumped full with adrenaline. His body glowed silver as he started chanting, his hate-filled eyes looking straight towards Marco. The silver light concentrated in his eyes as his spell, Penance Stare, hit Marco as their eyes met. He continued his reckless charge and caught Marco by surprise when he used Marco’s knee then his shoulder as a leverage to jump behind him, planting his other foot to brake and spinning his body to face Marco once more. He was about to cast Exorcism when a ball of fire whizzed past him, an Ignem spell casted by Marco’s familiar in retaliation. Michael jumped to the side to create distance from the two, knowing he had lost the chance already.

It was then that Michael saw a scythe suddenly appearing on Marco’s hands. He once again channeled mana from the Dominion Realm as Marco turned around to face him. With his hands he was exchanging the magazine of his gun into the one that contained the white bullets Emilia prepared for him. When Marco faced Michael, his face was twisted in pain, not knowing that Michael readied himself for this opportunity as he unleashed the Frighten spell.

Marco had a brief moment of hesitation and fear; the priest was unleashing the spell upon him without giving him a moment of reprieve. Suddenly there was a loud crack in the air. A bullet piercing his stomach snapped the vampire out of his delirium. He looked after rubbing his stomach in pain. His face contorted further with despair and anguish of a thousand sinners in hell. With the odd feeling of fear, it was hard for him to concentrate. He looked up, and witnessed that his Familiar—the creature that was a living coat—had a hole on it. It tried to block the bullet, but couldn’t.

“What… is this?!” Marco coughed and wailed, a bright light emanated from his wound for some seconds, the effects of the bullets were more than he expected from a shot made by a priest of the Church.

“This—this is your execution, Noble Diner,” Michael coldly responded as his anger reached the highest it had ever been. It didn’t even occur to him to try searching for the good in Marco. To Michael he was just a beast, and him the hunter.

Wiping the blood from his lips and spitting some more out, Marco spoke, “Heh, we’ll see, damned rat of the Church.”

Marco then broke into a dash with his ethereal scythe in hand. He swung it a few times, but Michael nimbly dodged his moves. Marco was lethargic from the burdens of his mind, and he’d feel prickling pain in his head from simply trying to think, hence his attacks were easy to read. Getting fed up, he outstretched his other hand towards Michael, and a colorful light flashed before his eyes.

Michael tried to shield his face but it was already too late. He could barely see a thing and the various colors of the spell dazed him enough for him to drop his gun. He staggered backwards in pain, his palm on his face; he drew his sword as he walked backwards and activated his other ability. The ability to sense good or evil.

The sword’s edges glowed silver. With his ability’s sensing alone, he took steps forward as time around him slowed down due to his latest spell, and swung his sword.

Marco, who was surprised by Michael being able to see, was cut across his chest and winced, but he saw the priest being blown away by a blue ball of fire just before him.

“Did it do it?!” Marco shouted the question to himself, but saw Michael getting up almost mechanically, unabashed by the blue fires burning the ground under him. The priest started running towards him, ignoring the pain of the aforementioned impact. “Tch, persistent fucker!” Marco raised his left hand at the priest and chanted.

The voice was enough to reach Michael. Ice was forming around his body, but he swung his sword—which was glowing brighter than before—and undid the spell. At that moment, time for him slowed down again. Marco was just barely visible and it was still hard to navigate. With his senses, he knew how to approach with him under the duration of his spell. However, the spell stopped. Perhaps that spell had hit him too hard. Regardless, another fireball was coming and he barely leapt out of the way to find Marco’s scythe about to bifurcate him.

Just in time, he managed to block it with his shining sword. The two then exchanged blows with their weapons. Magic clashed with magic given off by the weapons, releasing mana into the silver mists around them.

They finally met in a dead-lock, struggling to injure each other.

“I’ll definitely avenge Lady Claudia!” he shouted as if to remind him of his reason, to fend his fears away.

“Avenge her?! After what you have done, you have the gall to say that to me?!” Michael pushed with his blade, as he noticed his vision started to clear up. He started to push even harder, then abruptly pulled his sword back, and struck at Marco with much more force than before, putting in all his feelings of anger and revenge into it. The silver sword broke the handle of the magically-formed scythe and cut into Marco’s stomach, making him vomit blood. Time then slowed around him, and he could see the handle of the scythe was already being repaired thanks to magic.

Michael launched a flurry of attacks as his spell was active, ignoring the pains of his heart that was being pressured due to his new spell. He finally ended by kicking Marco, sending him crashing at the wall.

When his spell ended, he saw projectiles of blue flames making for his way. He exerted himself again and reactivated his spell to move out of the way. As soon as his spell ended, however, he too, coughed up blood. In his little respite, the ground around him broke and there was hot and burning magma—thanks to Marco casting a spell with his outstretched hand—which scorched Michael’s legs. Yelling in pain, the priest barely jumped out of it, but the damage was already done up to his thighs.

When Marco finally got up, he looked up to Michael, who literally vanished from his sight. He narrowed his eyes wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him, or if the priest’s mind-numbing spells were working their curses on him, when the priest appeared just before him to deliver another blow, plunging him into the wall once again. The blade shining even brighter in his hand.

The vampire fell to the ground from the wall, unable to get up, looking up at Michael with disgust and terror both.

“W…What the hell are you?! You’re not even a Representative and yet—yet it’s like this!” Marco shouted, his body now all bloody and battered.

Michael raised his sword, aiming to pierce the vampire’s heart, to end its life once and for all. With a loud crunch, Michael replied to the vampire’s last words with a boot to its face and thrust the sword downwards toward its heart. He twisted the sword a quarter of a circle, and with a loud squelch, more blood splattered onto the sword and himself. Finally, he pulled out his sword and swung it to the side, removing the gunk and blood on it as he walked to pick up his gun.

“Mi’lady… Countess…”

With those last words, Marco passed away.

Since Kazimir entered the moon shard on his own, it wasn’t surprising that he was alone, but it was unsettling that the exit was not there behind him. Surrounded by some kind of mysterious silver mists, it was rather difficult to discern his surroundings. Based on his instincts, however, he could tell that it was a massive cavern.

“I am not pleased in the slightest. This mist can be rather distractive even if it reflects the truth you may seek, Kazimir,” his spirit spoke to him in his mind.

“Truth?” He mused with a skeptical expression. “And what truth am I even looking for in this damn cave?”

“Who knows? The mists have all kinds of information. Perhaps some you’d never want to know. Often times it’ll reflect your past. Regardless, there are those who’d usually break down from painful memories.”

“Tch, how pointless,” he vented, heaving his sledge over his shoulder. “Just get this Virgo nonsense over and done with.” It was certainly the case that Kazimir had no interest in revisiting the past. He preferred not to be reminded of it at all but like an insistent mosquito bite, it was going to nag him now that he had been stung.

“Russia, huh? What a decrepit land. Burdened by snow and blizzards—time frozen eternally—and its people desperate.”

Kazimir then heard the Countess’—no, Yekaterina’s voice—as if to prove that his spirit was correct.

“There is nothing truly worth fighting for here. However, there is responsibility.”

“You talk big, Vladimir, but you are no slave to your desire and will—but a slave to one who is not you. Pitiful that you’d control this country soon. Freedom is the greatest treasure of a living being.”

A twitch ran past his brow as the woman’s voice brought back unnecessary memories. His hand gripped hard on the handle of his hammer as he felt the urge to smash through the nearest wall. “Tch, the one I did not want to hear the most.”

“You are aware that you were the same as Grigori. Just as he profited from crimes, you fooled the entire country for your personal means.”

This was the voice of Vladimir, the current controller of the Soviet Union.

“Haha! So? I see every merit in what he does. Perhaps we are similar that we were attracted to each other. In the end, I did as it came naturally and ruled Russia—brought it to its golden age. I see no issue. It’s not about your mindset—it’s the result you achieve. Russia benefits from my works, that I may assure. Unlike anything you did… petty experiments, like your Faerie project.”

Kazimir heaved a sigh, not particularly keen on discussing such subjects. However, he raised a brow upon realizing the identity of the other voice. “Vladimir. So the incompetent leader is off gallivanting in the Magic World then.”

As he walked, he found Anna wandering aimlessly in the mist.

“I am NOT a lab rat!” she screeched just as he saw her.

Knowing Kazimir, Anna would expect him to shoot her a heavy scowl or berate her in some way, but he merely stood there gazing at her silently. They had agreed for her to stay back during the battle for her own safety, and yet they ran into each other in what may still be a dangerous situation. Something Kazimir would definitely say something about. Instead, he only took a deep breath and sighed.

“This is just another displeasing occurrence after another,” he grumbled before hefting his hammer.

“AH!” Anna yelped at noticing Kazimir, the voices around her stopping. “Ahaha… I, uhh, got bored. So…”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he dismissed, heaving another sigh. “We’ll just get this operation over and done with.”

“I can guide you in the mist so I think that’s better that way, right?”

“Convenient, I suppose.”

Aramus entered through the entrance to the rock of moon and found the place full with silver mists. It was a very cold place, and a spacious caverns expanded before him. As he walked, he realized that he was all alone, and the exit behind him was gone. It was a very strange place, yet it was oddly peaceful. A kind of peace he could not find himself in peace with.

“Why are humans so easily beguiled? Why must they be so fragile, yet so lovable?”

Aramus heard the voice of Her Majesty from somewhere.

“A world vastly filled with such people… it would be quite the task to shield them myself.”

“This is… my redemption.”

Aramus looked around for the source of the voice to no avail as it seemed to come from everywhere at once. Is it here? Or is this another one of those things like the trials? Nonetheless, he called out. “Your Majesty?”

“Why… why would you do this, Dana? You were one of the greatest rulers of all time, yet you turned on your people. I thought we agreed to rule together…”

“This was the mistake our father would never forgive. If I were to indeed die—based on the beliefs of people—I suppose I would be going to hell.”

“Your Majesty!” Aramus cried out louder, starting into a run to find her if she was indeed around. Whatever it was, she sounded vastly different from her usual self.

“...This isn’t over yet. One day… one day I shall avenge humanity for this travesty of a ploy that they played against me. If they wanted my rule to end—they should’ve faced me themselves, those cowardly bastards. What could be achieve without my lead… anyway?”

He heard Virgo’s voice, then the Queen’s again. They were having a conversation it seemed.

“You must be aware—as am I—only a Descendant sympathetic to their concerns could actually face you. I am sure that the humans would do well without the ancient covenant to provide them guidance.”

“Well, whatever the case, if I were to affirm to one fact today, it’d be that you were a worthy adversary. I enjoyed every moments facing you… much like the time I faced him…”

“He who drinks deep of the earth… is it? Regardless, I shall confess that you were indeed worthy. There are very few even among my kin who drive me into such a corner that I have to cast the Wrath of Sovereignty.”

“Wrath of Sovereignty… by the by, what do you intend to do now? Surely you can’t be contemplating on providing a live body a burial?”

“Perhaps I am.”

“Oh?”

“I shall have you sealed—Dana—just like Tuatha.”

“You dare to make a mockery of my creation, Saint? Even if it’s you…”

“It is the only rational solution. If you cannot be killed, you will have to be sealed. For the sake of peace, if that is what must be done—is shall be done, Dana.”

“Very well. You are the victor, Saint. Do as you please. Don’t think, though, that I won’t attempt to break out and come back.”

“I would hope not, but perhaps we woll reminisce this moment again when that time comes.”

“You sound confident… are you certain that you won’t die?”

“Me? Die…?”

There was a laughter, Aramus heard his Queen with a demeanor he definitely didn’t know.

“What is so funny…?”

“I—who am of the Heavens—would experience such a mundane end so fast? I think not.”

“Virgo,” Aramus mouthed with distaste. So this was the ages past that involved both of them, and to think that she would go to such lengths for such a reason. Was it not obvious no normal man could stand against her? Aramus seethed over the amount of life lost in such a short span of time.

As Aramus progressed, the voices of the Queen no longer echoed. However, he heard someone crying…

Slowing his gait, he looked around warily for any traps. It was difficult to tell the difference between reality and whatever magic had befallen him. Maybe it was the moon itself?

Before he knew it. Mary was crying just in front of him. Perhaps it was the mist, but he totally hadn’t realized anything just moments earlier with his eyes.

“I am so sorry, Charlotte… ”

“Mary!” Aramus called, running over to her side. “What’s going on? Are you alright?”

“The… the voices…!” Mary shrieked, crestfallen.

Aramus was slightly taken aback by the volume, unsure of what to do to help her. He then heard some of the voices that tormented her.

“You do not need these clothes here. Not that man’s picture either, nor that damned Charlotte’s help. You are mine.”

“This chain is proof of your allegiance to me. Remember well… otherwise I shall charr the skin of that broad you love… hahaha!!”

“You will only take my orders. Mine alone. Kill Claudia. Make sure to wipe her face off the Realm.”

Whoever this man was, he was apparently Mary’s master, or something like that.

Summoning Paimon’s Fan and swinging it in one smooth motion, Aramus let loose a gust around both of them like a mini-barrier. The wind howled in his ears and he sincerely hoped it would work. There wasn’t much he could do to help those affected by mind tricks. “Shhh… Shhh… It’s okay. He’s not here right now,” Aramus said as he tried to comfort her.

It took some minutes before Mary calmed down and wiped her tears.

“I am sorry, I showed a really pathetic side of myself.”

“We all have our times of weakness. I take it you didn’t have an enjoyable time with him,” Aramus said dryly.

“He is a monster…” Mary mumbled under her breath. “We should get going, lest we never reach Virgo.”

“Very well,” Aramus said, the wind dying down around them. “Do you know where she is? I can’t make heads or tails of this place.”

“The mist did not seemed to be affected by your wind… well, I am not sure but I can see past the mist at least,” Mary replied. “It is not much, but I can try navigating and finding a way above.”

“Let’s go with that. We need to find Virgo before she wipes another continent off the planet.”







Inside the moon shard now, Svetlana looked around. There was no light behind her, the exit was gone. Everywhere she looked, there were silver mists. Clearly there was mana flowing in the air here. She noticed that Lily and Mary were gone, and she was alone.

She stopped caring about them as she walked forward. Her only objective was Virgo, nothing else. It didn’t matter if she’d have to do this alone.

“Before we begin, I must inform you of what it means to be learning this spell from me… If you are a big sister to Isabelle, then you are akin to a daughter to me, and that means you will be inheriting one of my sins.”

“Well, you were not able to handle the amount of energy that Asteria from the Infernal Realm responded with. That just means you have to try until you are used to it.”

“Oh, didn’t imagine it would cause something like that… Guess this will take a while to learn like you said.”

“You have to teach me those two spells too Mrs. Alicia! Pretty please?”

“So I shall, but they cannot be mastered in a day. I suppose we have almost a month before the next semester… you will likely be able to master these two spells by then.”

Svetlana heard voices from the past. It was something she could vividly remember, a conversation between herself and her second mother. Her foster mother, of sorts.

“Tch, does she plan to make me listen to my happy moments before finally making me hear that moment? But it does feel nice hearing Mrs. Alicia’s voice again.”

As if to answer her worst fears, she heard it once more.

“Se...Sevvy-chan. The sin you inherited… I trust you with it. As the big sister, you must take care of her.”

“I will. Leave it to me. As you said, I can do it, right?”

“I am sorry… you can have my property; I shall leave it to you girls. Use it well.”

“Please do not talk like that. You can’t just leave like this now! After all that you did to me, keeping me locked up in that stupid room. You cannot just…”

“I will be a good girl. I will do as you say! I will not listen to a devil. So please, mommy… please do not leave me.”

“Then… just be a good girl. I am sure that… you will be fine without me. You have Sevvy-chan with you now. I apologize… but it is up to you now.”

“Ahh, I failed your expectations too—had I not?—Your Majesty? Perhaps you had meant to save us by sending me here. I can only offer my heartfelt apologies now, but this is the end of the tale of your Knight of Eld, a Dark Knight, a Duchess, and an Archmage. I wish you the best of luck.”

Svetlana paused for a second before she wiped her eye and continued walking. “To think I would experience something like that again. I have to make sure Isabelle doesn’t experience something like that again.”

“In the end, I was a petty person competing for glory. Fighting Virgo’s army or the Countess’ army? What for? Helping the people only to result in winning their ire… was this what I truly desired?”

“Curse that bastard Aries. If he would not have brought me to this timeline, I could have stayed in the past peacefully with Isabelle and my son Thomas… oh Thomas de Mauny, where have you gone? I can only pray to God that you live safe and sound…”

“If I were to pass away… Isabelle would have to take over the properties by herself. So that means she would be able to go back home to England. Such a large mansion for one girl. I wonder if she would feel lonely?”

“What is this? I don’t remember Alicia ever saying this nor the mention of a son…” Svetlana said to herself, hearing the last part.

“Your Majesty… why? You are telling me to leave England and teach in the Eastern Magic Academy now? Did I… did I really do wrong to learn Supreme Spells for the sake of my daughter?”

“No, Duchess Alicia. I never thought it was wrong. Not even for a moment. The other nobles, however, do not agree. They are pressuring me to exile you. Listen well, I shall do what I can to change the rules in time. I am sending you to the Magic Academy but with intentions I believe are good. No one in the Academy would assassinate your child. She has a demon inside her—I examined her as requested.”

“So… my daughter really is…”

“Yes, she is possessed to an extent. The Church is already taking its action. Flee this land and lay low for some time, Duchess Alicia. This is the only way to save your daughter for now.”

“Understood…”

“Why am I hearing this? Why are voices of Mrs. Alicia’s past coming to me?”

“I was once the Descendant Capricorn. I know for a fact what Descendants are like… thus I shall claim, King Hades, we’re the most selfish of the bunch around. Heh. This is redemption. I have shared my story with you, o King of the Infernals. Now, grant me the Supreme Spells.”

“An interesting story it was. O Dark Knight of eld, I am in full agreement with Queen Victoria’s opinion of you. Very well, I shall grant you the Supreme Spells you so desire!”

“Perhaps one day my pupil will come to you, or my son or daughter, or perhaps even the next Capricorn will be there. Please treat them well.”

“You have my promise…”

“Wait, Mrs. Alicia learned her spells from Hades himself?! She was Capricorn as well? So many things I don’t know about Mrs. Alicia when she isn’t here.”

As Svetlana walked along in the mist, she started to hear the sobs of a girl. She looked around and couldn’t see anything due to the silver mists, so she followed the direction of the sobbing after taking a guess.

On the ground was Lily, and it turned out that she was the one crying as she finally came into view for Svetlana.

Svetlana ran up to her. “Lily, are you okay?”

“...I-I am sorry, daddy… I am sorry that I was not born as your son…!” Lily wailed, holding her head and looking down. “So, please…”

“Useless piece of flesh. I don’t need a daughter, you wench! Get out, and never come back!”

“F-Fath—”

“Get out!! If you want an ounce of my forgiveness, go find your brothers and bring them to me! Use that godforsaken pendant I gave you!”

“Lily! If you’re hearing something, ignore it. “It’s in the past, you can’t do anything about it!” Svetlana said to Lily as she shook her.

Lily looked at Svetlana with wide eyes. “S...Svetlana, you are here… where, where am I?”

“I’m not sure, really. All I know is it’s probably Virgo’s doing.”

“Sorry… you had to see me like this,” Lily said, wiping her tears and standing up.

“Don’t worry but we should get going, no clue what she could hit us with next,” Svetlana said as she reached out for Lily’s hand.

“Mn.” Lily nodded, holding Svetlana’s hand. “Let’s go.”







Louise and Alek walked across the caverns inside the moon shard. The space was vast, but most of it was not visible thanks to the mysterious silver mist making it hard to see anything. Louise was somehow irritated.

“This is… an agitating mist of mana here,” Louise stated.

Alek just frowned intently as he walked with his sword drawn in front of Louise. “Where do you think that harlot is?”

“I would think you heard her say the Lunar Temple? Likely in the upper section of this shard of moon,”

“Sorry, rhetorical question. I grow impatient to slake my blade in her blood…” he deflected, “I think I might’ve hit my head or something when you pushed me off the roof, because I never felt this angry. Why was your first reaction to me trying to save you to throw me off the roof, anyways?”

“I am sure you would understand if you realize where your hands were. Any woman who would not like it.”

“So… that actually happened? I thought it was a dream from hitting my head when I fell… anyways, I digress. On the off-chance that I do not live through this, I want to confess something…” He trailed off with an enormous blush.

Of course, Louise was not even looking at her bodyguard.

“I suppose I shall permit you to speak.”

“When I first saw you at the Royal Academy, I thought you were gorgeous, refined, and incredibly elegant. Not to mention intelligent. I spent a goodly several months admiring you from afar, and even went so far as to try to be placed in your classes, hoping I’d have some opportunity to introduce myself… anyways, that plan didn’t work too well, other than in the sense that your mother noticed that I was in your general vicinity more often than not, and so she figured to hire me on as a guard, thinking it wouldn’t disrupt your routine too awfully much. I accepted with glee, thinking that this might be my big break for you to notice me, and to be able to work up the courage to ask you out sometime. I regret that it took a Descendant to work up the nerve, but if by some miracle I survive the upcoming fight, would you like to maybe go to that concert… together?” His blush intensified, for a reason other than the grope that had happened, as he nervously poked his index fingers together.

So he assumes that my mother had such a reason to get him to become a bodyguard? What pointless drivel. “Why would you be so desperate just to know me? I cannot comprehend the minds of men sometimes, but I suppose we could go to a concert sometime. It piques my interest indeed.”

“B-Because I like you, Louise. You’re cold, and distant at best, most of the time. But I’m at least interested enough to try to get to know you better, and I have the drive and determination to do what it takes to stand with you back to back and take on the world! The only thing that I feel is holding me back, is whether or not you feel the same about me as I do about you..”

Who gave you the permission to address me so casually? This insolence… “I am not quite certain what you are on about… I know more or less everyone that knows me in my country likes me, why would I have to like them back in return?”

“I guess if I have to say it out loud... “ he began, “it’s because I like, like you. Like, in an †˜I want to explore the possibility of being involved’ kind of a like, like…” The knight looked her dead in the eyes, regaining some of his hard-earned battlefield composure. “Perhaps I’m getting too far ahead of myself though. You’ve only known me for a few weeks now, so it’s understandable that you might not know what to think… I just wanted to get that off my chest so that I can focus during our mission more clearly.”

She ignored the gaze and walked past him, having no time to stop even for his confession. “I see, but if it is romance you seek—that is not something I prefer from a mere servant. I may have accepted your invitation, but please do not make an incorrect assumption based on it. You are not my fiancee, you cannot hope to court me. That is simply how things are.”

“It does seem like quite the impossible dream to me now that you put it into that perspective. I won’t form incorrect conclusions as to how you feel on the topic, I assure you. Perhaps a better dream is to work hard to gain your trust, and prove myself capable of handling more responsibility, should you wish me to. To that end, I’ll ensure that we both return alive, if not unhurt from this excursion!”

“Good luck.”

“It wouldn’t be worth working towards it if it was easy. If I stay by your side, I’m sure that I’ll have many exciting adventures, at the very least, milady.” He favored her with a smile, resolved to not give up on the dream just yet, but to work hard to improve, and maybe someday be more than an insect to her.

“Dream of adventures after we get over this mess.”

“That should say a word about my confidence in how well we’ll work together that I am thinking so far ahead.” He simply smiled. “Doubt yourself for a second, and you’ll get eaten by the grues…”

Michael’s tirade was halted by Virgo’s booming voice. He snapped out of his self-pity just in time to see a bridge manifest in front of him. Michael immediately walked towards the newly created bridge and started running towards the temple that fell from the moon, not even giving a glance at the bridge’s ornate design.

“Mister Michael!” A voice beckoned from behind.

Michael turned to find Takeru and Elizabeth down before the staircase.

“Where’s Mary?” Michael asked.

The two ran up to him. “Wait, you haven’t seen her?” Takeru asked.

“Most of us were separated due to Virgo’s Commandment usages,” Elizabeth added.

“We were the same.” Michael decided it was not the best time to have to explain why he left the two mages. “Are you two alright?”

“We met the Duchess along the way so we are,” Takeru answered, tossing two potions at Michael. “Courtesy of the Duchess, keep them.”

“Much appreciated,” Michael tied the potions to his waist, having suffered minimal damage so far he had no reason to consume either of them. “I would assume you haven’t seen the rest, then?”

“I was with Lily but… after the meteor fell, I lost her,” Elizabeth answered.

“Let us hope we find them in that place then.” Michael pointed towards the giant hunk of rock with his thumb. “Oh. Are you two uninjured?”

“More or less,” Takeru answered. “We’ve been lucky so far. Can’t say the same for the rest.”

“Sacrifices.” Michael turned his back on them, facing the moon’s shard. “It is as you said earlier. Let’s get going, they may need our help.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”







After Svetlana heard the echoing words of Virgo, challenging humanity to stop her madness, she could only ran towards the waters of the Hudson River. Across the coast a staircase formed before Svetlana—after the message was delivered—as if it was specifically beckoning her. As the moon shard laid atop the water, it’d be foolish not to take the staircase.

Virgo’s whispers reached her from the air somewhere. “You desire revenge, yes? Come, I prepared you a little short-cut.”

Her anger still flaring, she started walking towards the staircase when she heard voices from behind.

Svetlana stopped as she recognized the voices she heard. “Lily and Mary, is that you?” Svetlana shouted to make sure. She turned to find Lily and Mary walking up to her.

“Thank God we found you. It seems like everyone was separated,” Lily said. “Are you alright?”

“Well, that Commandment was large, after all. It is no surprise that we were separated. Glad that we found at least someone we know,” Mary stated, apparently not tired from the entire ordeal at all.

“I’m fine, a bit tired is all. How about you two?”

Lily gave a nod. “We are doing well, albeit we could not help with the fight. Mary and I ended up saving those who were close to death.”

“It is what we could do, anyway. We were blown out too far,” Mary added. “In that sea of corpses, it was too hard to even approach Virgo at that point.”

“Well seems like if we follow these stairs, we’ll reach her. So I’ll be going. If you two want to follow, come. If not, that’s fine,” Svetlana said as she began walking.

“We will obviously go too,” Lily said resolutely.

“Take these, though,” Mary said, handing Svetlana two potions, one for mana and one for health. “We got some from Duke Cavendish Bentinck on our way here. I am sure that they will come in handy.”

“Thanks. Well let’s go.”

“That was an entertaining show,” the Countess commented. “What say you?” she asked Claudia, who sat beside her on the railings of a building barely holding in place in the now obliterated New York.

“And that is exactly why I’m not fucking with Virgo,” Claudia said, reeling with amazement from the spectacle from before. A chuckle escaped her lips as she gazed upon the mountains upon mountains of corpses. “I mean, it’s bad enough a meteor had to ice half of the city, but the moon? Makes me glad to have her on our side for the time being.”

“Mhm, we must enter it soon. I assume Mary shall be inside somewhere.”

With a smirk, Claudia gave an audible crack of her fingers, then her neck. “Good. I got a few bones I need to pick with her anyway.”

“Take that staircase then,” the Countess said, pointing to a staircase forming along the shores. “As you can see, it’ll lead you straight inside. Good luck.”

“Bien,” Claudia mused. She hopped from her piecemeal viewing spot to land on her feet. She then began to take the staircase while waving goodbye to the Countess for the time being. “I’ll return with that bitch in chains.”

“Have fun, perhaps I might come to watch the show if I can.”

“Oh, I will,” Claudia said, beginning to shout as she reached lower and could hardly see the Countess anymore. “Though, watching me go mad with lust? C’mon Countess, that’s something you’ve seen probably a hundred times now!”

“For now, I suppose it doesn’t get old. Besides, I’d love to watch Mary’s peril.”

“Haha. Right, then.” Claudia jammed her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “Who am I kidding? I do have a reason to live. Like my parents before me, I was born to cause panic and terror into the hearts of people who band against me… only I plan to do it better. No reason to repress it any longer. I have the Countess, Marco, Rose, Ansel, and even George by my side. Fuck Cosette. As I’m beating Mary senseless, I’ll show her—everyone who doubts me, that I have drive.” She adjusted the tiara securely onto her head and sighed. “Right Mom? Dad?”

Phase 3:

Virgo turned to a side and found Queen Victoria in her ethereal form, silently observing. The ancient conqueror smiled at her triumphantly.

“I hereby invite the Heavens to the Earth. May the Heavens and Earth clash and break one another. O Sirens of Dawn and Midnight, undo the chains and bring forth the celestial disaster!”

For moments everyone stared at Virgo. Nothing happened.

“Nothing is happening…” Natsu muttered from beside Kazimir. “More importantly, how do we reach her?”

“That woman wants a fight,” he responded harshly, bringing himself up with the support of his sledgehammer. “We don’t even need to try.”

“That’s… true,” Natsu said, giving a nod. It was rather unfortunate that people like her existed. Natsu could not understand the workings of a mind that desired a fight.

(BGM: https://soundcloud.com/gahald-mills/iqlirifgl6ey)

The sky started to shake, and a large structure of rock fell from the sky. It was a few times larger than the meteor from earlier.

Coming down from beyond the stormy clouds, the sky was cleared and the people witnessed it that day. The herald of Virgo’s judgement upon mankind. A kind of wrath that could not be bounded. A power beyond the comprehension of mortals, an event surely to go down in history, memorable due to fear and the majesty of the conqueror’s abilities.

The moon was broken, and a part of it was called down, as far as one could see. It soon floated over the Hudson River, some distance away from the Statue of Liberty.

Beams of mana were launched from the shard of moon, and they further destroyed the city of New York. This time, completely.

A single beam made it look like the explosion from a nuclear missile. Several other beams ran across the world, passing by the horizons, and quakes could be felt from the earth. Who knew what other states of America were damned to hell by now.

The mystical shrine erected on the moon long ago was for the purpose of protecting the planet from all kinds of dangers. Namely, from real meteors. They were also used in a forbidden experiment that was likely known to a few now in the world. None knew, however, that Virgo had managed to gain control over this ancient device undiscovered by the mundanes.

Everyone witnessed this world-shaking tragedy as it took place.

Aramus was Jolted awake by the rumbling from the Statue of Liberty from the helicopter. He had watched as the fight between Descendants raged on, culminating in the destruction of New York’s iconic landmarks. He stared as everything went down, and when the beams of mana finally hit, pillars of light hitting the ground with unholy rumbling as the earth shook, he could hardly believe that he was still flying in the air with this aircraft, as the savage winds battered the it and the interior turned red as warning lights came on, the pilot struggling to regain control as the shock wave washed over them.

As the helicopter finally stabilized, Aramus saw the devastation wrought upon New York. What was once one of America’s most bustling cities were now completely obliterated. A trembling hand covered his mouth, the utter destruction rendering him speechless. A sense of loss and powerlessness washed over him, leaving the Magister absolutely shaken. The silence in the helicopter showed that he was not alone.

Weiss gazed upon the event that her employer caused from the coastlines. She realized why her absorbed friend had said that her employer alone could cause total destruction without even breaking a sweat. To think the absorbed friend that was Lumiere was now a part of Virgo herself. This is amazing and yet frightening at the same time.

Michael stood on the coastline, staring towards Liberty Island. After he had ensured the safety of the mage he helped, he returned to where his allies were to find nothing aside from various corpses that littered the area. Assuming the worst, he tried to find a way to track where his allies went with the Descendant, but found nary a trace of them leaving as if they just blinked out of existence. He had almost given up hope when he noticed spells going off in the direction of the Statue of Liberty. So, he decided headed towards the island some time ago. After the meteor of Svetlana, he found himself safe in the coastlines, but now that the piece of moon came down and the beams were shot, he felt truly insignificant as an existence.

The ground he was standing on soon quaked, as if the earth was thrashing in pain. Michael fell to his knees, as his thoughts of crossing the water to help his comrades were now deemed impossible by the rampaging waves; he could only pray for their safety now. He gritted his teeth in frustration. Was this the consequence of him helping that young mage? To abandon his allies to their luck? Could he have done anything even if he were there with them? In face of powers that rivalled armageddon itself, what could a person like him do? Even the Priest was not mentally and emotionally strong enough for this sight. Too weak, I am too weak. Saving others? Saving people? Why have I deluded myself so?

“To think that wench can do something like that as well…” Svetlana said as she stood up and started running from her current location. “Just what else do I need to do against her if she’s capable of this?!”

“Hear me, sons and daughters of man,” Virgo’s voice echoed across the entire region. “If you wish to save humanity from the pangs of despair. Come seek me out in the Lunar Temple. I shall await your challenge. Otherwise, drown in despair and await a peril ever greater than your imaginations. Hahahahaha!!”

“She is beyond madness…” the Duchess commented. “There is no other choice. We will have to move now.”

“I suppose that was enough observing… who would think the legendary Lunar Temple is real? Anyway, I agree with the command. Though there is no single passage to it. You will need to fly into one of its many holes…”

“That won’t exactly be easy,” Aramus said as he tried to find a good entrance in. “We can enter on foot into one of them, but bringing this chopper in is impossible.”

“This is the Royal Princess of Britain speaking,” Louise began. “There should be many staircases created by the magic of the Lunar Temple itself. Simply use it for those unable to board the aircraft.”

“I do not see—never mind, I am seeing it now,” Duke Cavendish Bentinck reported.

“There should be countless staircases to various entrances. It is unfortunate, but time is of the essence,” Louise stated.

“You heard the Princess,” Aramus said to one of the pilots. “Bring us in quickly, the rest can catch up.”

“And I suppose you want to split apart our forces further, Princess?” Powlett questioned from beside Aramus with a bit of irritation, not showing the respect she deserves.

“Yes. Organized forces do not matter inside,” Louise tersely answered.

“Why not? We could all enter with one staircase,” the Duchess said.

“It is a magic maze inside. You would almost always enter alone regardless,” the Princess answered.

“Wonderful,” Aramus added dryly as the chopper neared their drop off point, one of the men opening the door with a rattle. “I suppose we’ll be the vanguard then.”

(BGM: http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=yijyvLcElBI&p=n

When Kaz finally landed on top of the Statue of Liberty, he found that its head had already melted. He heard the reports given by Aramus from the device in his ear. World Buster had been already used—before he even faced Virgo. Somehow, the information was not right on the mark if compared to what Taurus had told him, but perhaps she was provoked enough by the mages.

He’d not have been late if they hadn’t told him to rest. There were predictions of the attack sometime later in the day, but he was woken up about two and a half hours past midnight only to learn that the attacks had started already. By that time, Natsu was already gone and she took the helicopter for herself. All kinds of unsynchronized work aside, he was finally here.

Kazimir could see Natsu—using a glowing purple bow made of spiritual energy she wore like a bracelet on her wrist—shooting projectiles at Virgo. The enemy Descendant was nimbly flying across the sky, dodging the arrows with ease. He looked at the sight with some irritancy, scratching the back of his head as he caught his surroundings. The city landscape dyed in a hue of red as the island city was bathed in flames, he couldn’t help but click his tongue.

“It’s because you all went ahead without a plan that this had to happen.” He sighed as he turned back over to Natsu. “OY JAPONSKIE!” he called over to the young girl.“Force her down lower so I can fight!” Raising up his sledge to indicate Virgo being up high was no good for him.

“On it!” Natsu gave a nod. Reloading arrows and shooting them by flexing fingers.

“No need to. I’m coming.”

Natsu was pushed back towards what seemed like a boulder with a force of the wind behind Kazimir as Virgo moved in swiftly like a bird gracefully landing, and stood on the same ground. Her speed was truly beyond match for someone like Natsu.

“Tch, overconfident one,” Kazimir remarked as he brought down his hammer. With a scowl, he stared down his opponent before breaking into a dash. Pulling his hammer along behind him, he put his momentum into its force before finally swinging it towards Virgo.

Perhaps it was because of Kazimir and his bloodlust and true intent to kill that the world was thus colorless. Time had stopped around the Statue of Liberty. Natsu seemed to lack this type of true seriousness as a warrior to initiate this change… but then why didn’t the world around them lose its time when Virgo attacked? One could say that Virgo didn’t take Natsu seriously, either.

The sword of her right hand shone brightly like the sun, and the sword in her left hand swirled intensely with the wind.

Virgo and Kazimir met face-to-face as they exchanged heavy blows. An ordinary sledge was being put against two ancient relic blades that were known from the mythologies of the Irish. Eventually, after the intense sparks flew from their dancing steels, Kazimir was struck multiple times across his body by the woman’s blades due to her overwhelming speed.

Kazimir winced. He knew her hits would connect at some point, but they packed more than he had expected.

“Bitch!” he called out as he gripped hard on his hammer, preparing to swing now that she was up close. “WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BLOOD!” With a cry, his strike managed to connect, knocking some good distance between himself and the woman. Kazimir brought his sledge to rest with a sharp exhale, a subtle chuckle escaping between his breaths.

“I wonder about that.” Virgo didn’t look down at the gash that was made on her left bicep. Instead, she rubbed at her stomach with the back of her hand to find blood. The arrows of Sagittarius struck just as Kazimir’s sledgehammer did; she looked up to see that Natsu was standing ready behind him with her bow, her eyes clearly showing the insignias of the Sagittarius with a purple hue. “So Queen Victoria did prepare some kin of mine own to face me. How interesting.”

Natsu shot two more of her arrows from her bow. Virgo blocked one with her relics while the other sliced through her flanks just barely.

Kazimir followed behind her arrows, charging once again for another swing as he gripped the handle hard. Whether distracted by the arrows or something else, Kazimir seemed to have the advantage as Virgo had a slight delay in acting. Once again, he felt the satisfaction of impact as he drove Virgo back a second time.

The winds from her left relic just barely reduced the momentum of Kazimir’s swing. Virgo, however, was ecstatic despite the pain, for she was truly enjoying the battle. Her eyes showed the navy-blue insignias of Virgo.

The clouds of the sky coiled and turned to what looked like rings. The blackness due to the lack of color and the original stormy clouds made this very hard to note.

It heralded the beginning of the end.

“In my name, I invoke the wrath of the Goddess who breaks all chains keeping her bound as obstacles. Otherworldly concerns be damned—be it Heaven or Earth—none stand before the path of the victor, none stand before the path of the conqueror!”

From the sky fell a bright bolt, and it pierced into the remains of the statue. An explosion followed. The winds blew and the statue shuddered hard under the powerful force of the Commandment.

“What drivel,” Kazimir spat, hefting his hammer over his shoulder. “I’m still standing!” he simply called out.

Kazimir then noted that the ground below them was pulsing with electricity. Before he could even react, the rest of the Statue exploded like a time bomb going off with an electric pulse. He was taken aback by the sudden collapse as he began to fall along with the rubbles of the former statue. Looking back at Virgo who stayed afloat in midair, he could only curse under his breath before gripping onto a large chunk of the falling debris.

“That bitch,” he muttered as the copper, iron and steel began to form around his arm until it became like a club. His eyes gave away a hue of brown as the insignias of Taurus showed. He concentrated his spiritual energy and extended his influences across the air, reaching the smaller chunks of debris. The pieces of iron all converged upon his club and they started to build up into something akin to a tower atop his arm.

A bridge of iron was being crafted just to strike at Virgo. With him falling, he needed even more pieces to make up for it, thus he wasted no time and exerted the power of his Commandment to the maximum. By the time his “club” was complete, it was already half the size of the original Statue of Liberty before he pummeled Virgo with it.

Natsu shot two final arrows, and they seemed to hit their mark, but due to the distance she couldn’t tell if they truly struck at her or were blocked. Likely, they were cut apart by the ancient Descendant.

Once again a smirk ran against Kazimir’s face, a final taunt at Virgo before he impacted the ground. Kazimir noted a bright flash from Virgo’s right sword, then his pillar was completely severed in half from the middle and his club collapsed down to the ground momentarily.

After some minutes, they started to hear a noise, and looked up to the sky to find a helicopter approaching the Statue of Liberty. Natsu was still battling Virgo around this time.

“I’m going,” Aramus said simply as he leaped towards the chopper with an electrically charged jump.

When Aramus got on-board the helicopter, a mage sprang up and pointed a sword at him, but upon noticing his face, he put it down.

Aramus met Duke Powlett yet again.

“Any information on the target?”

“Yes, Duke,” Aramus answer, not even making an effort to curse his luck. “I need to use the radio to relay it to our troops.”

“Connect to the channel, now,” the Duke said. He seemed extremely annoyed but was somehow calm.

“Thank you, Duke,” Aramus said as he moved forward, the radio hissing in his hands as communication from other sources came through. He put on a headset and pressed the button to allow him to speak, swallowing even though his mouth was dry.

“All troops, this is Magic Magister Aramus Valmark. My team and I engaged Virgo earlier but were unable to inflict any heavy injuries upon her. There is also crucial information I must share that concerns her abilities.

“She has multiple commandments but I have information on four, the first of which is the World Buster. It denies everything in an 180 degree arc from whichever direction she is facing so please exercise extreme caution. Another is Chaos Utopia, it manipulates what we consider uncertainty and freezes it. Regardless of what we do, nothing bad will befall her. The third is Siren’s Prayer where she calls upon spirits from the Faerie Realm to bolster her spiritual abilities. The last is the Maiden’s Curtain, a barrier only a pure-hearted woman may breach if she gives it her all. That is all,” Aramus said, and he paused to listen for any incoming transmissions, the radio suddenly hissing to life with so much more activity, like a hive of angry bees.

“Aramus…” a voice spoke from the other side. It was Duchess Frederica of Edinburgh. “I… fear it is a little too late for that tidbit.”

His heart sank upon hearing the news and Aramus closed his eyes again, the magnitude of his failure shaking his core.

“Listen carefully, Mister Aramus. It was reported some moments ago that…” The Duchess could be heard punching something. Likely a wall. “Half of South America was wiped off the map.”

“I… can’t… We coul’n’t stop †˜er Duchess… The fo’lt lie’ solely on me’,” Aramus choked out.

“...How long did you have that information?” Duke Cavendish Bentinck asked, who was also listening on the broadcast.

“To’ lon’, Duk’, to’ lon’.”

“You idiot!!” the Duchess shouted. “You could have told us earlier when we were discussing the matters!”

Aramus visibly recoiled even though the headset was still attached and very slowly, tears began to trickle down. “I’ can’t ev’n apol’gize fo’ thi’s an’more. Gotta set thin’s righ’t ev’n if it kil’s me.”

“Mister Aramus… they’re dead! Gone! We cannot put things back in the right anymore…!” the Duchess wailed.

“What is done is done,” Duke Cavendish Bentinck calmly spoke. “We will have to take her out for sure before she wipes mankind out as she claimed. I am sorry but… save the tears for the morrow, people.”

“Yo’r o’ders, Duk’?” Aramus managed.

“For now—and this is of absolute secrecy—the two important fighters our Queen prepared are engaging them,” the Duke began. “Unfortunately, the Queen assured them that they will be kept separate from the mages in exchange for dealing with Virgo so that many would not be privy to their identities. This means our hands are tied right now, until the situation changes. Keep an eye on them, people. We’ll have to be careful with the situation.”

“A lot of us flies would only get in their way, anyway,” Duke Powlett said from beside Aramus to the microphone. “I agree with this order.”

The Duchess barely managed an, “Agreed,” and the decision was finalized.

“Ah, sorry!” Natsu’s voice was heard and a beam ran just beside the helicopter that was shot by Natsu, and they barely survived it.

“Tch… that is a ridiculous range for a beam,” Powlett scoffed as he walked over to a window to observe the fight.

“Lot mor’ n’ that’ Duk’,” Aramus said as he took off the headset.

“Then again… the other arrow bit down a part of the world. Why in the hells do these things even exist?” the Duke said partly to himself as he questioned.

“I do’t kno’ Duk,” Aramus said as he watched the fight as well. “Maybe that’s why we’re trying so hard to get rid of them…”

“True,” for once the Duke agreed with him. “I never gave as much as a penny for a thought about it other than duties, but now I can see why.”

“The power to destroy nations on a whim… Our world has no need of such a thing,” Aramus said bitterly.

“Yeah. We’ll have to start clamping down on them harder. I cannot even imagine having one at our great Britain.”

“With one like Virgo, you and me both Duke.” Aramus chuckled weakly, resting his head against the headrest.

A message from the Duchess was heard from the radio in some moments. “Those not observing should probably rest a bit. We’ll distribute potions. After that, people should start getting ready again. We will not know when we are needed to go back in to fight her again. There are also her Representatives around, and none of them were taken out as far as we know…”

Do I even deserve to rest after all that? Aramus wondered to himself and drank a potion.

The Duke then tossed two more potions at Aramus. “Keep them. You will need them, and don’t even think you can just weasel out by thinking you’re the unforgivable scum who should be hanged,” he said with a dry and cold tone. “You are unforgivable, but that just means that we will have you worked to the ground with this. So take my word… and rest up.”

“I intend to pay for this mistake with my life, no matter how worthless that sounds. Either Virgo goes down or my body gives out first.” Aramus knew he probably wouldn’t get any rest but nonetheless closed his eyes and heeded the Duke’s orders.

Phase 2:

The floor was really uneven and the Magic Magister almost fell off.

What kind of a place had Virgo brought them to?

Aramus and Svetlana could only think that they were perhaps being brought to a trap, but there was no other way than to follow along. The wind was howling from how high up they were, threatening to push them off, and when Aramus looked down. It seemed they were to do battle on the Statue of Liberty of all places. His day was getting worse by the minute.

“We’re on the Statue of Liberty,” Aramus said. “Seems like Virgo has a penchant for grandeur if she plans to fight here.”

“No matter, as long as we bring her down I could care less where we are,” Svetlana said, her face full of anger still.

“Guess we better get to the top then, I want this to end,” Aramus said, wings sprouting from his ankles. “Can you climb?”

“Yes, don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you,”

Aramus nodded and took off first, scaling the Statue easily with his magic.

(BGM: http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=jy0KGY7DKCM&p=n)

As Aramus reached the top, he faced a tornado rushing straight at him. With a yelp he moved aside. When he faced ahead, Virgo stood atop the head of the statue with her Fragarach facing him.

“I see that you two have come. Good choice. I commend your courage.”

“Somebody has to do it. Besides, I cannot and will not turn away from an order that comes from Her Majesty,” Aramus answered, giving Virgo a somewhat sour smile.

The Descendant sighed. “And to think the Saint was once a lone and peerless warrior. How low she fell—to use a mere servant against one of her greatest enemies.”

“I know not what Her Majesty thinks, but she has led us marvelously thus far. Even if I fall here, there are many others and eventually, one of us will bring you down.” Narrowing his eyebrows and calling upon Paimon’s Fan, Aramus prepared to do battle once more as the relic slipped into his palm.

As Svetlana drew closer after witnessing Virgo, she aimed at her with her index and middle fingers mashed together, and a fiery wind shot out of the tip of them towards Virgo. The Blazing Winds was one of the original spells of Margaret Alicia that she was taught, and were powerful and effective spells than most ordinary spells. The Descendant started walking towards them coolly despite the raging flames.

“Mn, more modern spells I haven’t heard of,” Virgo stated, calm. Her eyes glowed navy-blue, and the signs of the constellation of Virgo were visible after the flames were sucked into her right, shining sword. She leveled the blade towards them to send the flames back, but purple beams of light rained down atop the crown of the Statue of Liberty.

“Teachers! Are you two alright?!”

A familiar voice was heard by Aramus and Svetlana, and Natsu landed from the sky. They noted a helicopter had transported her to the battlefield.

“Natsu!” Aramus called out, some relief on his face at the appearance of more aid. “With your aid, we just might be.”

“Well, didn’t expect to see you here. Anyways, any of you two think you can hold her down for a bit?” Svetlana asked.

“I can try,” Aramus said. “That will involve getting through her Magic Resistance, but anything’s worth a shot.”

“Then let’s start. Natsu, help me distract her for a bit,” Svetlana said as she the shot out another Blazing Wind spell at Virgo.

“Try your worst,” Virgo said with a smirk, the flames adding up to her right sword.

“I’ll do what I can,” Natsu said, looking at Virgo with ire. “I won’t forgive her for what she did… ”

Natsu’s bow that made out of spiritual energy that was already connected against her wrist was leveled towards Virgo. She clenched her fist, five arrows formed under it, then she bended them and released the fingers, and the arrows were shot in correspondence to the fingers being released.

Virgo casually side-stepped the shots, and one of them was deflected with her windy sword, sending it straight back to Aramus, who jumped aside to save himself.

While Natsu attacked Virgo, Svetlana began to chant the spell she was taught by Alicia as she looked at Aramus to see if he had done his job.

“O Asteria, I beseech you to extend my will to the stars! I offer my anguish and distress to invite the flaming gates of hell to open. May judgement be served to the sinner by the might of the celestial body!”

Aramus called down a bolt of lightning from the storm, his fist clenched as he tried to lock Virgo in place. Electricity sparked and twisted around her as the field formed but did not seem to slow her down too much, sweat beading his brow as he tried but failed to freeze her.

Believing Aramus had trapped Virgo, Svetlana unleashed her spell at Virgo, pulling a finger down to command her. The stormy clouds of the sky twisted and coiled to reveal what seemed like a hollow space above them. The thunder and lightning still rumbled and roared across the dark sky thanks to Aramus’ spell, and there was a red hue from beyond the clouds. The earth started to shake, especially the Statue of Liberty.

The Supreme Spell taught by Alicia was active.

“Dark Celestial Body—Metéora!”

A meteor could be seen falling from the sky and was coming towards them all and the statue.

“T-Teacher… you’re gonna drop this on all of us?!” Natsu shouted, seeing the meteor in disbelief. Sometimes, she thought that the mages were much more dangerous than the Time Warriors themselves.

“Holy shit, what in blazes!?” Aramus reacted just as badly. He expected something but definitely not that!

“Both of you just get near me now!”

Virgo opened her mouth and sucked in the air around her in a second, taking in the electrical field that Aramus generated into her mouth, and blew the air out again at Natsu, the Descendant who chose to go against her.

Now, Natsu was stuck thanks to Aramus’ spell. “W-What is—”

Virgo swung her Fragarach at Natsu, and she was blown off the Statue and fell to the body of water below the statue.

“Hmph, spell of Asteria, huh? It has been long! Color me impressed, avenger!”

The Descendant leapt up in a display of supernatural agility, and sped up towards the meteorite and faced it head-on.

“By the majesty of the Goddess of Tuatha I pray—all before me shall be cut in two and brought to their ruin. This is the decree of the ruler!”

All Aramus and Svetlana only could watch while the meteor was cleanly divided in two, and a shine as bright as the sun flashed for a moment. One side of the meteor fell on the city beside them, causing a massive explosion that sent waves of hot air towards them, while the other created huge waves on the water as it splashed down in the river.

“Damn it… that was my strongest spell!” Svetlana said in shock. “I thought you had her locked down!”

Aramus had nothing to say for his failure, looking at the flaming city that his failure had caused. All those lives lost because he had failed.

“Hey, now what? She’s not gonna let us try that again this time.”

“No, she’s not,” Aramus answered softly as his face fell from sadness.

“In anger smites the warder of Earth. Forth from their homes all men flee,” Aramus chanted, his voice quivering, and his anger was increasingly becoming evident as he finished, “I shall wield the weight of my hatred—for I am might incarnate! Holy Wrath spell—Thor’s Might!!”

With a bright flash of light Aramus’ body generated electricity rapidly. His body transfigured to that of lightning itself.

Svetlana couldn’t even see what or how Aramus moved. Virgo was gone, too.

“Not bad, Thor’s spell is it? How nostalgic,” Virgo commented, flying side by side with Aramus as they clashed rapidly and intensely. Lightning was against blades and they fought for supremacy, sparks were thus left in their wake. The two traced and raced across the Statue of Liberty from the bottom to the top of the arm outstretched, and finally met each other on top of the torch that the statue held—Aramus’ head and the tip of the Descendant’s Fragarach competing was vying for victory. Aramus put everything he had and screamed. In the form of lightning this came off as a loud rumbling screech of thunder and a shower of sparks bathed the torch under them.

Black winds started to gather around Virgo, and she was soon entrapped while she was still engaged with Aramus. A little shocked, she looked down at Svetlana with a black eye, casting magic.

Tendrils of lightning lashed at Virgo as Aramus rained his fists down upon the Descendant, fuelled by his sadness and rage. The whips sliced across her body in veritable showers of sparks, Aramus heedless of the toll on his body as he unleashed whatever he had from the bottom of his being, spiralling into her like a drill.

“So this is how Thor’s Might feels,” Virgo assessed. “Well, you two had your shot. I suppose it’s my turn?” The electric residue resided around her, but Virgo was still floating before Aramus, shrouded by the black winds that Svetlana conjured with magic to trap her in place.

“You think I’m just gonna let you go?!” Both her hands held balls of purple flame. She tossed her demonic spears of flames. Not two or three or four, but over ten, eleven, twelve and more. Aramus moved away and landed beside Svetlana as his spell expired. Around Virgo were flames defiling and burning the air itself while Svetlana panted at having exhausted herself for using too much mana.

Virgo frowned, it was finally her turn now.

“O Ishtar, grant the instruments of purification. Bring forth the sirens and horns to celebrate the dawn of a new beginning. To cleanse the world of its impurities—judgement shall be passed and all life wiped clean of existence!”

A colossal projectile launched from Virgo, and the head was undoubtedly turned to dust. It did not face the city of New York as Aramus jumped off the statue with Svetlana, using a bit of his mana to fly with lightning.







For some time this gigantic beam continued to travel. Aramus felt relieved seeing that it didn’t hit the city. They landed on the coast of the city, close to the battlefield where they had first fought Virgo with everyone else. The panicking cries and the noises were distant here.

Aramus wordlessly watched the beam travel, anything that he might have had to say gone from his lips. He smoothed his dishevelled back with a trembling hand, sitting on the ground for a breather. Only now did he remember Hades’s words to him about her abilities.

“Damn it! Just how much more strength do we need?” Svetlana said in anger as she was becoming somewhat tired.

“The two of us are not strong enough. We need to wait for more reinforcements to come, so we should take the chance to rest while she is… distracted., Aramus said from his position on the ground.

“That’s fine by me, but let’s go deeper in. I’d think she can just get us easily here.”

Aramus dusted his pants and followed Svetlana, his body feeling extremely heavy. “There are a few things I need to tell you,” he added once both of them sat down and were drinking from their potions.

“It better not be we have no hope of beating her,” Svetlana said as she sat down herself.

“Actually, it might give us the chance we need, but it might be too late,” Aramus said. “Hades, the old man gave me information regarding Virgo’s abilities since he was familiar with her. In particular, her Commandments. There are four in total that were told to me.”

“How can you keep this kind of information to yourself, idiot?! Do you know how precious it would have been to know this earlier?!” Svetlana shouted as she stood up angrily and went towards Amarus. “Well then what’s this information that you kept to yourself all this time!” Svetlana’s face was right in front of his.

Aramus had nothing to say, lowering his head in shame as he began his explanation. “The first of the four is the World Buster, the one that she probably just used, but I’m not sure. It deletes everything in an 180 degree arc from whichever direction she is facing.”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before explaining the rest, feeling even more tired than before he started resting. “Chaos Utopia, it manipulates what we consider uncertainty and freezes it. Basically, no matter what we do, anything bad will not befall her. The third is Siren’s Prayer where she calls upon spirits from the Faerie Realm to bolster her spiritual abilities.”

Aramus opened his eyes and looking into Svetlana’s angry ones. “The last is the Maiden’s Curtain. A barrier only a pure-hearted woman may breach if she gives it her all.” There was almost no emotion left in his voice as he said this, pulling away from Svetlana as she continued to glare at him. “I’m going for a short walk.”

“Don’t we have to figure something out for this now that you have brought it up? Hardly the time for a walk under our current circumstances, don’t you think?”

With a short exhale, he planted himself back down on the ground. “I do not think the two of us are able to do anything even with this information, but if you so wish.”

“Well better to figure something out than let the others know so we won’t go blind again unless we somehow were to get stronger.”

“Any ideas then? I intend to find the others, given the chance. I cannot do anything against the Maiden’s Curtain for obvious reasons. Chaos Utopia is another pesky Commandment. The only one we might have a chance against is Siren’s Prayer,” Aramus said quietly.

“Tell me, do you really think you will run into everyone else by chance? As far as we know they could be dead as well already, and if you haven’t forgotten there’s a Descendant trying to kill us.”

“Then how about you give ideas? You’ve been nothing but critical,” Aramus said tiredly.

“I don’t know. I’m not the one who kept important information to themselves and only revealed it till it was just two of us beaten to a pulp! You can’t somehow contact Hades considering he gave you the info? Who knows, maybe he would have more info to give?”

Aramus tapped the earring that Hades had given him. “Worth a shot, but time passes differently there. One day amounted to thirty here. We might not make it back in time. If we can keep the conversation short maybe, but he likes his stories.”

“Well got any better ideas? Either way if we can’t find the others, we might as well consider ourselves dead.”

“I think regrouping is a better option. Even if we went to Hades, there is no guarantee we will find the rest after we return. Knowing Duchess Frederica, she will be organizing what remains of our mages somewhere.”

Around this time, they started to see the purple beams fly across the skies again. It seemed like Natsu had reengaged Virgo on the Statue of Liberty.

“Seems like Natsu got herself back up. Well let’s hope they’re not far, since moving around using our mana would be a waste considering what kind of enemies we are facing, don’t you think?”

“We could wait for the chopper to return. It will have a radio and I can contact the rest using that,” Aramus suggested. “In the meantime, we can rest here and aid Natsu if she needs it.”

“I guess,” Svetlana simply said.

Distractions, huh? She checked the packs on her thighs filled with remote controlled bombs. Just put these in places that have lots of people wandering around. Don’t forget to actually detonate them. Press the button and throw. It will stick and explode in 20 seconds, more or less. You’re the fastest of the bunch so it should be easy for you. She remembered what the other Judgement series had said.

“Well then, that bus looks full,” she said as she picked one of the bombs shaped in a star. ...Seriously? Is there like what, a moon shape and a sun shape too? She sighed and threw the bomb at the bus. Weiss then casually walked away as the bomb exploded, killing everyone inside and nearby the bus, causing panic at the dead of night. Hardly any people were meant to be around some years ago, but it was said that in America at night in the current generation, people would party late and some would work late due to the economic situations. It was no longer surprising to find people at around three or four after the passing of midnight.

Numerous explosions followed after. Weiss was running from building to building, throwing bombs at anything she saw. From buildings to subway entrances. She giggled as she threw another bomb at the screaming civilians. This is quite fun actually.

Some orbs of flames fell down to Weiss, and she flipped back and landed on top of the railing of a building. Some mages appeared, all dressed in black robes, and Weiss threw another bomb at them.

Even as she ran, it seemed like she was already identified and was being pursued.

No more fun and games now, she thought as she threw more bombs, trying to lose her pursuers.

Before her landed one man wearing a jacket who conjured blocks of ice and sent them at her. The assassin opened fire with her steam boots and melted them before pumping the man onto the streets below. Weiss turned to the railing on the opposite side with a jerk. The grinding noises of gears ran past her ears.

“Good evening—but I suppose it’s long past that now?—we meet again.” Powlett held his large sword with its gears making sparks fly out of it, hungering for combat.

“Of all people, why you?” She clenched her fists and pulled her gun from her back. “Don’t tell me that I woke you up from your beauty sleep.” She sighed again, spinning with a kick, giving out steam; blowing away the other mages that were trying to take her out as she spoke.

“I’d like to call it a coincidence cordially, mind you,” Powlett answered, shrugging, ignoring the people getting taken out by her. “We just happened to—ahem—overhear some plans, perhaps?” he said in a mocking tone.

“Plans of me throwing fireworks at buildings and railway entrances?” Weiss then reached down to her dropleg pouch and threw three bombs at Powlett.

“I suppose?” he said from the sky, the bombs exploding under him as he flew with the air. As expected of the Duke he calculated the direction of the wind and took the environment into factor while making split-second decisions. One of the top-notch mages of the world indeed.

Weiss dashed and the Duke could not keep up with her speed, unsurprisingly enough. After all, the noble man was unaware of Weiss’ true identity as a Descendant. It was said that even people like the Duke had trouble keeping up with Representatives of the Descendants. He whipped his sword at her in an attempt to cut off her arm but she evaded with ease. Unfortunately for the android, it was a feint and she was sent down to the alley from above the building with a kick followed by the Duke before he landed on a rooftop of a building.

“Oh…” She steadied herself before landing on the ground. “No…” Her right Heel started to blow heavily compressed steam. “You don’t!” She managed to rocket herself up using her right heel as a booster. “Eat this!” She yelled as she used the remaining steam on her right heel to boost herself to Powlett. Using her left heel, she kicked Powlett in his chest and released another compressed steam kick, only to be blocked by his screeching gear sword.

Parrying the steamy boot, the Duke swung his blade at her horizontally, and Weiss shot at point blank with her sniper—wounding each other.


“Heh. Not bad, assassin.”

“You too, Powee,” she mockingly teased.

Powlett pressed a finger against his ear and listened to a message.

“Ah, seems like our party time is cut short. Till we meet again,” he said, giving his usual intoxicating smile.

Weiss noted the noise of a helicopter and the Duke caught the ladder that was thrown down from it, flying away from the android.

He’s a pain in the ass. She stood up straight and holstered her rifle on her back. Wait a minute, he’s heading to— Weiss quickly dashed after the helicopter, heading for the Statue of Liberty.

As the battle was underway, Louise and Aleksander entered the area through a portal of the void. While Louise knew where to go, Aleksander was as confused as the last time he ventured into the Astral Realm. Surprisingly, it was a really short distance to the area where the Statue of Liberty was located, as he found himself with his Princess on the rooftop of a random building. From beyond the railings they were observing the battle with Virgo.

When the first wave of power came, Louise used a powerful spell to deflect it. Granted, by the time it reached the pair it had already decimated many of the surroundings and hundreds of mages, so it was a much weaker force, enough for Princess Louise herself to deal with it.

“She really is a powerful figure…” Louise said in disbelief. “That was already almost half of our forces…”

“I actually almost pity those brave souls who tried to defy her power, but it’s kinda ruined when I realize that’s what we’re about to attempt. Still, I’d hate to be the poor sap who is first off the boat and into the grinder,” he agreed. “Let’s hope we brought enough men and women to even the odds back down a bit…”

“We had around five-hundred… this Descendant is unlike any other in our records. I cannot understand how such an intensely powerful figure eluded our range for so long.”

“Well, we’ve almost got them pinned to where we can fight them head on, barring any unforeseen setbacks. If we push just a little more, and get just a little lucky, I think we might actually stand a chance… I mean, of course we stand a chance, I didn’t mean to imply that I thought your plan might fail, milady.” He backtracked quickly, bowing to her respectfully.

“No, it is an inevitable truth that anyone’s plan may fail given this degree of force and power,” Louise said, coming to an agreement. “Considering that the battlefield is still at the corner of the city, we are in luck. I would not want to take responsibility for the citizens—especially when it is an unfortunate attack made by the enemy that chose this area.”

“This is true, it could be quite the incident if the American Magic Organizations can stop bickering long enough to notice. If nothing else, that means there are fewer things to distract the grunts on the ground from the main objective. If there’s nothing to loot or pillage, then it should be a somewhat smoother plan than it might normally be.”

“The Americans were recruited too, if I remember correctly. Not specifically every Magic Organization, but some of them at least, if what the Duchess reported is true. What we must worry for is the government—assuming we survive this ordeal.”

“I shall ensure that you do at the very least, my liege. I anticipate that if they decide to be hostile after this, they might have some reserve force to leverage against us as we recover… they have more population per capita after all, and some may still be bitter over the way we ruled them not too long ago… but then, I suppose for them it’s been much longer than it has for us.” He nodded. “What’s the plan? Are we to observe for now and await an opportunity to move in and finish it?”

“I doubt they would attempt to forcefully assassinate us, or try something so vengeful. The blame would likely be made, however. Anyway, we stand-by for now. There is no telling when another one of her Commandments comes. I, as the Princess, must refrain from taking action for now.”

“I understand. Sometimes the king moves with intent, other times you must avoid being placed in check. I shall remain at the ready. Feel free to use me as you see fit, milady,” he said with great respect evident in his voice.

A minute of observation passed, and Virgo once again unleashed her great Commandment. The same one for the third time. Louise raised an arm and chanted.

Aleksander couldn’t hear any of it with the force of the spiritual power being louder.

When magical and spiritual energy clashed, Louise was barely holding the fort. Shockwaves were formed and the building was starting to suffer serious damage as cracks formed.

The force field created by the Princess broke.

Alek’s snap instinct was to dive for Louise and attempt to tackle her to the ground, thinking to provide a lower center of gravity to prevent getting blown off the roof, as well as lessen the chance of being hit by flying debris. As he did this, he didn’t take the time to be careful in how he tackled her, and ended up lying on top of her, further shielding her body with his as one of his hands was on her shoulder. The other landed squarely on a pillowy softness that rivalled the pillows he was sure the Queen herself would use; fingertips brushed at the bared skin at the very neckline of her dress.

A moan escaped Louise’s lips and an expression of confusion Alek never before saw. “What are you… “ Louise then came to realize how her so-called guard was on top of her, and where he was touching. “Lecherous scum!” She placed a palm on his chest and a magical force blew him away. Aleksander fell off the building momentarily and went through a flurry of leaves as he fell through a tree, which absorbed much of the damage from the fall.

He sat up, rubbing at the back of his head, and sighed, trying to overcome the pain by remembering the pleasure, having noted not for the first time that the two weren’t always as distinct as one might think. Pains soothed, he broke into a run as he moved for the top of the building, unwilling to waste mana on a Raven’s Coat spell.

He hustled to the top after a minute or two at the most, having schooled his emotions, and opened the roof access. He walked through already dropping into a kneel as he said, “I’m sorry for my lapse in etiquette Princess…”

“...I shall let it go. You were punished for it.”

“Thank you for your benevolence.” He remained kneeling, not having been told he could stand yet, and unwilling to risk angering her further. “Are you hurt, milady?” He moved on to asking after her well-being, in no position to see for himself yet.

“I am fine. If you can move then we are going to relocate,” Louise said, seeing the portal inside Virgo’s navy-blue barrier.

“Of course I can move, milady.” He stood up at once, not a hundred percent okay, but well enough to move without impediment. He blushed slightly, finally processing just what he’d done when he tackled her like that, but unsure what else to say. He simply waited, pondering on the texture and overall feel, and decided that he couldn’t imagine a more perfect feel for a woman’s bosom, the thoughts not having helped his blush disappear in the least.

Phase 1:

(BGM: http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=cDh2Vfr5img&p=n)

“Come, sons of man. To live is but to fight, and to fight is to live. Show me your spirit to survive, mankind,” Virgo declared. The ancient lone warrior faced hundreds of mages gathered from across the globe. While the mages were indeed gathered based on the orders of Duchess Frederica due to the presence of Princess Louise around this area, they were expecting a Representative, not Virgo herself.

Already, countless corpses surrounded Virgo by the time Aramus and his team arrived at the site. They couldn’t even tell what was in the place previously. No signs of streets, or houses could be seen where the Descendant stood, simply broken asphalt and demolished remains of sewers with water barely running. Some buildings barely managed to retain their wreckage some distance away. Such was the result brought by the beam of light they witnessed earlier.

On her right hand was a blade that shined like the sun, and on her left hand was a blade that seemed to be swirling with wind.

“I know it’s hard in this crowd of mages, but let’s not drift apart from each other!” Takeru shouted. There were mages in every direction, and the massive crowd had stopped caring about the mundanes long ago. Casting magic blindly out of fear, desperation, and rage at the Descendant, one of those foretold to bring about the end of the world.

The team stayed intact in a formation more or less, but it didn’t take long for them to come to a realization that the task of aiming was bizarre.

A white pillar extended towards the heavens. Clouds were extinguished, stars were blanketed, and the radiance spread over the night sky, lighting up the city as though the sun had temporarily showed itself upon the country—illuminating all the way to the horizons. A wave spread and extended from where Virgo was in the surface at the same time. Many mages were overwhelmed, elevated like mere ants— unable to endure the powerful and brilliantly shining wave of the ancient conqueror who displayed her mighty Commandment proudly. With this one stroke, hundreds of corpses rained down and the chances of success was already looking bleak, despite the fact that they had superiority in numbers. One could wonder how much more sacrifices would be required to take down Virgo.

“For I defy the Heavens, I shall crush it, shatter it, ruin it—before conquering it.”

Aramus and the others fell down to the ground due to this wave. One could say that the luck yet favored them. They could live only because others had took the blow, ultimately shielding them from the Commandment known to Virgo as the Heaven Buster.

Seeing Virgo, Svetlana wanted to charge at her, but she was able to restrain herself knowing full well that even with her new found-power, it wasn’t going to be enough. She clapped her hands twice, taking a prayer position. A white light draped her form, sprouting ethereal wings and fading away. Finishing this new spell, the Angel’s Grace, Svetlana again clapped her hands twice, and continued her prayer for another light that surrounded her body; this new light also shined brighter before it slowly faded away, but leaving her stronger.

Michael shook his head to clear up his fuzzy vision from suddenly being thrown into the ground. He pushed himself up and observed his surroundings, wary of another attack from the Descendant. Representatives. Must make sure there’s no one else but her. Must search for opportunities and escape points, he mumbled the same thing to himself as he finally stood up.

The priest flicked his wrist to make the chain spear come out of his sleeve and looked at one of the nearby rooftops. Noticing one good vantage point nearby, he swung his arm towards that rooftop, sending the chain spear towards it at high speed. With a loud thunk, the spearhead embedded itself securely. Michael pulled the chain twice, propelling him upwards toward the place he spotted. He broke the formation, but perhaps by this time there was no real formation to maintain after the Commandment of Virgo.

When he finally landed, he took time to observe his surroundings, noticing silhouettes in their vicinity. He wanted to use his new spell, Chrono Phantasma, but it seemed the hit he had received interfered with his concentration to cast the spell at the moment. Observers? He took note of them as he returned his gaze to Virgo and his allies.

Aramus pulled himself to his feet quickly, seeing other mages fleeing left and right from Virgo as they scurried away from impending doom. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Michael rocketing away on a chain and Svetlana casting her own spells. No time to worry about the mages now, Aramus thought, clapping both hands together as he began to summon a thunderstorm.

The wind began to pick up, ruffling his hair and clothes. The sky turned darker with flashes of lightning and thunder as the storm began in earnest. The storm would continue to form by itself, and a small portion of it swirled down into his hand from above, culminating into a sphere of wind. Another soon joined it. Twin spheres spiralling just above his palms, Aramus kicked off against the ground, rocketing towards Virgo.

Keeping low to the ground and weaving in between other mages, lightning blazed along his feet and trailed behind him as Aramus made a beeline for Virgo. He landed on the back of a man whose face no longer existed. The fleshy feeling under his shoes was a little off-putting, but he looked up to find Virgo staring at him.

“Oh? A human would dare to come face me?”

“On the orders of Her Majesty the Queen, we will bring you down, Virgo.”

“Bold words. Come, I shall accept the challenge.”

When Michael saw Aramus running towards Virgo at high speed. He decided that he might as well give him support, but he was surprised Aramus hadn’t waited for the frontliners to move first. He ran at the rooftops, using the chain spear across gaps as he aimed to flank Virgo. When he reached Virgo’s flank, he kept silent and stealthed, his gun aimed directly at her. After hearing her acceptance, he decided to let loose and squeezed the trigger. A red bullet exited the barrel after a reddish-orange flash from the gun revealed Michael’s position.

Virgo turned in reaction to the noise of the bullet immediately. Her senses sharp, she swung her shining blade that she held in her right hand. The bullet was cleanly cut in half, but an explosion followed immediately from the bisected parts of the bullet as if a missile had struck her.

Aramus capitalized on this, striking at Virgo through the flames as his orbs churned away, his original spell, Galeforce doing its work. Absorbing the fire, the spheres turned red and swirled brighter from the added energy. Repeatedly striking at her with both spheres, Aramus yelled as he exhausted the mana in both orbs, Virgo deflecting his attacks with her shining blade almost effortlessly. His combo culminated in a blast as he thrust both arms at her simultaneously, a large explosion emitting from his palms as the spells triggered their secondary effects.

Virgo then swung her left sword, and the wind blew Aramus back slightly, neatly making a cut on his orbs. “Hm, I have not seen such a spell before. Interesting,” she said, her smirk growing. “What’s wrong? Clearly you’re not done yet, yes?”

“Not yet, I’m not nearly done,” Aramus breathed, another orb sputtering in his palm as he tried to get it to work.

Seeing that the others had begun attacking Virgo already, Svetlana clapped her hands twice and charged towards Virgo while maneuvering through the crowds. She soon reached for her dagger which was crackling with electricity due to the application of the spell Augment—Lightning. Seeing Virgo turn to Aramus, Svetlana picked up her pace, lunging herself at Virgo, her dagger out at front. The sword surrounded with winds clashed with Svetlana’s dagger at last. Svetlana realized that her sword was not connecting with Virgo’s at all, due to the tough wind that acted as though it was a wall.

“Oh. You’ve come rather far,” Virgo nonchalantly said.

“You damn wench! I’m gonna kill you!!” Svetlana shouted full of rage and hatred for the Descendant, trying to get another swing at her adversary with her dagger while managing to clap her hands twice quickly. Having her next swing blocked as well, Svetlana immediately tapped onto Virgo’s stomach with her other free palm, casting the Vibrato before she backed out.

“Good, good, let the hate flow through you. I am full glad that I ended Duchess Margaret Alicia’s life just before you, hahahahaha!” Virgo roared in triumph, ecstatic; she ignored the application of Svetlana’s spell that was supposed to make her feel dizzy—there was hardly any effect on her in fact. She was truly hungering for battles.

Svetlana gritted her teeth at these words, and her blood boiled even more. She outstretched her free arm and an orb of flame started to form, but her eye turned black.

“This will never be enough. Come! Give yourself to me! I shall avenge Alicia!” the demon inside her shouted to her.

Just shut up, I’ll decide that, Svetlana shouted internally, but at that moment the orb in her hand vanished. “Damn it,” Svetlana said seeing her spell slip away due to a lack of concentration. I’ll never give myself completely to you, but I will use you, “ …to kill that stupid wench!” Svetlana shouted as a purple orb formed on her hand instead. When the spell was complete and the orb was launched forth, it looked like a spear of purple flames surrounded by black winds. It was very different from her usual blue fires. As a follow up, she started to create more orbs of purple flames and threw them at her.

Virgo, of course, proceeded to block them with her shining sword in her right hand.

“So it is indeed that demon again. Petty creature.”

Following up quickly was Aramus as he speared an arm towards her, an orb spinning. Virgo turned towards him, but the Magister grinned as his attack went past her guard, the sphere of wind in his palm… suddenly disappearing as the magic fizzled out. The momentary loss of concentration from it made Aramus lose his posture and he fell on the Descendant, both arms reflexively stretched out and closing his eyes at the retaliatory blow that was sure to come.

That blow never came and instead, Aramus felt an extremely soft sensation in his palms. Something that felt out of place in the battlefield. His hands twitched and moved as he tried to get a bead on what it was. It smelled good. Correction, Virgo smelled good. When it finally hit him, Aramus almost didn’t want to open his eyes… or remove his hands. You’re going to go down in history for all the wrong reasons. Ain’t that right, Valmark?

Meanwhile, Michael was assisting some people who were caught in the battle while his two allies distracted the Descendant. He was carrying a young mage when he glanced at the world-shakingly important battle that was behind him. It was then that he saw their leader, Magister Aramus Valmark, squeezing the Descendant’s chest. “Bloody hell.”

“If you’d prefer me as a partner, then feel free to come to my bed some other time instead,” Virgo calmly stated with a quirked pair of lips, taking the accident in stride. She raised her sword of the winds and Aramus was lifted up from her body. He felt like he was being choked by the winds of her relic sword. Virgo gave her blade one swung in the air, and Aramus was tossed back straight to Svetlana and fell over her.

Aramus pulled himself off Svetlana as fast as he could, apologizing profusely the entire time. He looked slightly manic over what had happened, staring down at his hands and clenched them, realizing that they felt the sensations of another, smaller chest just a moment ago.

Svetlana helped herself back up to her feet with anger on her face before she slapped him. “Idiot, why didn’t you strike her when you were on top of her instead of playing around like a lecherous pervert?!”

“Now, now, he is a fine perverted dog. He should come over to my side,” Virgo said in a tempting tone with a chuckle.

Aramus whirled on Virgo, increasingly manic. “No! I didn’t intend for that to happen. It wasn’t…”

“Ahahaha! Your face is red, human,” Virgo voiced. Her emotions appeared very much human.

Svetlana at that moment conjured another purple spear of fire and threw it again at Virgo. It turned into nothing in the air before her. Virgo showed the back of her metallic hand. A glowing navy blue prism was seen.

“Aren’t you feisty?”

“Hey pervert, get your head out of the gutter. If you want her, you can have her corpse once we’re done here,” Svetlana said angrily at Aramus.

(GM Comment: Suddenly, ITT: Svetlana triggered in the middle of a big fight.)

“Oh, will you be quiet! I already told you that isn’t the case,” Aramus yelled at her as he loosed a bolt of lightning at Virgo in anger.

“I jest is all, child.” Virgo leveled the sword on her left against the lightning, and it was swiftly caught in its airs. “I command thee—Fragarach! Have the winds submit to your will. For it shall lead to my victory!” With a swing, the lightning bolt was sent back to Aramus with an extra helping of winds.

“Damn it!” Aramus shouted as he turned and scooped Svetlana up in his arms, throwing both of them out of the way with a surge of lightning from his legs as he kicked off against the ground. They stopped quite a number of meters away, a trail of steam marking their short travel. “That was close,” Aramus panted, letting Svetlana down and looking at his own feet with a strange expression.

“Tch, you worried about me losing it before, yet you lost yourself back there when you had the perfect chance to strike her.”

“Hard to please, ain’tcha?” Aramus said as he looked at the spot the lightning bolt had charred to perfection. “Never mind, let’s get back in the fight.”

“For I defy the Heavens, I shall crush it, shatter it, ruin it—before conquering it.”

Another wave of blinding light shook the skies and the earth as the Heaven Buster Commandment was once more unleashed while the mages were barely picking themselves up from the last. Michael could see people literally flying off the ground once again. He himself was shielded by a bunch of dying mages falling over him once more.

Aramus noticed at the last moment that he wasn’t feeling much of the impact, and nor was Svetlana as she was close with him—for his golden earring provided by the Queen shielded them both.

By the time the light faded—it was too late—they were trapped. Behind Aramus and Svetlana was a navy-blue barrier.

They were enclosed inside with a smirking Virgo by the same barrier that stopped Svetlana from reaching her second mother when she was murdered that day, Margaret Alicia.

“Now nobody may pursue us in this battle.” A portal formed behind her and she walked inside it. Her voice echoed, “Come, sate your desires for victory and revenge. I shall gladly respond in turn with a proper duel.”

Aramus looked at Svetlana and then the portal before hanging his head. “We don’t exactly have much choice, do we?”

“Just go in already,” Svetlana said as she pushed Aramus from his back.

“Alright, alright. If I make it out of this, let’s have some cake on me,” the Magister added with a sigh as he headed into the portal. “That’s a really big IF right there.”

The two then entered the portal, not sure what to expect.

In a microbus was Aramus’ team. They had rented it out some time ago, apparently. Something about the Royal Council actually thinking of transportation instead of using magic for the preservation of mana. Elizabeth complained that they could simply supply vis instead.

“That is the…. Statue of Liberty?” Mary questioned, seeing such a large monument for the first time. “It is… larger than I had imagined.”

Indeed, the statue was visible as they drove across the road.

“...Why am I the one driving again? Surely you could drive too, right, Aramus?” Takeru asked.

“Uh, no. I don’t have a license actually, I couldn’t afford the driving lessons. Sorry to make you do this,” their team “leader” replied somewhat sheepishly.

“I have a license I guess… somehow I feel like I bit the end of the stick,” Takeru said, sighing.

“Sorry, but hey, at least you didn’t have to speak to the Royal Princess. That’s a good thing, right?” Aramus said.

“She seemed hard to talk to,” Michael added. “Not that it’s immediately a bad thing, of course.”

As the priest and the fellow Magister spoke casually, Takeru widened his eyes. “...It’s begun!” he shouted, speeding up the bus. He thought the attack was coming much later, but it was two hours away from dawn when there was a large pillar of light from the coast opposite to the Statue of Liberty.

“We should hurry up.” Michael chambered a round in his gun. For this battle, he had brought all of his equipment, unlike the fight with White Lotus. He had a feeling that even this would not be enough against two Descendants, but it was better than nothing at all. His heart was beating wildly from excitement, strangely enough. If the Countess’ retinue will be here. He will be too.

“Everyone get ready!” Aramus said, mentally preparing himself for what was very likely the last fight he might take part in. He hoped that the team would all make it through, but a small part of him knew that the opposite was just as likely.

“It really is too early,” Mary said. “Something is not quite right.”

As they got closer, Svetlana began to recall the moment Virgo took Alicia’s heart in the form of the Academy’s Headmistress. She recalled how all she could do was just be next to Alicia—unable to do anything to save her life. After feeling sadness, her rage slowly began to swell upon her and she could sense that Virgo was near.

“Hey driver, speed it up!” Svetlana shouted.

“I’m on it, Svetlana, but I don’t think we want an accident now!” Takeru shouted. He was already breaking the laws, but that wasn’t important. There was still traffic on the road, and panic would likely be taking place next for the locals.

“...Are you okay?” Lily said, placing a hand on Svetlana’s shoulder from beside her. She was told by Mary that Svetlana should be calmer, but it was contrary to that statement now.

“I’m fine but someone won’t be soon,” Svetlana said. She didn’t look at Lily but kept her eyes straight as if waiting for something to appear.

Lily looked worriedly at Mary, but Mary shook her head.

“It is already in effect. This is just how the situation is now.”

After the discussions were over and Michael left the lobby, the Duchess beckoned him to follow. It was already midnight, but for the mages, it was a time to be active now due to the emergence of the situation. As the priest followed the Duchess he only saw her going through mysterious things he couldn’t comprehend in a device in her hand. It was like a phone, but it was something much more greater and expensive. It likely functioned similarly too. Sometimes she’d speak with someone through it or she’d be reading some documents he could hardly read from behind her.

Either way, they had already walked out of his hotel and were well on the way to someplace else, as the Duchess invited him to a taxi.

The taxi drove them straight to Hotel Wellington. Another luxurious hotel.

“The Dukes and I are supposed to stay here,” the Duchess explained. “Princess Louise too,” she added.

“Considering our foe, I would not be surprised if the Queen herself came here,” Michael commented while observing the extravagant place he had just entered. “Is this place well-guarded?”

“Not really,” the Duchess answered. “Well considering we have a member of the Royalty, it could not be farther from the truth,” she said with a dry laugh.

“So, this method of yours, what do we need to do, Lady Duchess?” Michael decided to address his primary concern rather than the logistics of their operation.

“You shall see,” the Duchess answered. “That said, you mentioned the Watcher and the Archangel, did you not?”

“Yes, at least, that’s what I’ve heard.”

“Well I have no guarantees but… let us see what happens.”







At the very top of the Wellington Hotel was a special room. When Michael entered with the Duchess, it was empty. There was a long window on the right providing a picturesque view of the city. On the left were some furniture and sofas prepared, but it seemed like the space to the right was purposely kept clean.

“Are you ready?”

“Always.”

“Be on your best manners, and I mean it.”

“I’d do my best,” he gulped, knowing that etiquette wasn’t his strongest suit.

The Duchess sat beside Michael, and he was offered some coffee by the Duchess herself. That was, of course, after she prepared some for herself.

What seemed like particles of blue lights gathered, and an ethereal form began to build up. Forming the dress, the hair, the complexion and details itself to the finest point. Michael witnessed the younger version of the Queen appearing before him as something like an apparition. He had seen her once before after Duchess Alicia parted from the world, but he barely had the time to note her or her words. He was too shocked by Alicia’s death on that day.

Michael choked on his coffee and mustered his willpower to not spit it all over the place. He ended up teary-eyed while staring at the Queen, half-choking on hot coffee. He hammered his chest with one hand until he managed to swallow his drink properly. “Your Majesty?!”

“Good evening,” the Queen greeted with a perfect smile as she innocently peered at the priest.

The Duchess gave a disappointed look at the priest, but she couldn’t blame him since she didn’t really tell him the truth beforehand. “I apologize for having requested this audience, Your Majesty, but I thought it would be beneficial to both the parties involved.”

“Oh, no. It is completely acceptable,” Her Majesty replied. “You are Mister Michael Kallweit, yes?”

“Erm, yes. I believe we met at the Meet, I was Laur- Miss Laura’s guard.” He paused since part of him still couldn’t believe who was in front of him at the moment. “I’m sorry that it turned out the way it did.”

“Truthfully, I noticed at the last moment that she was a victim. I apologize for not having taken action on it immediately,” the Queen replied.

“Your Majesty… you knew?” the Duchess questioned, her mouth agape.

“Of course, who do you think I am?” the Queen said with a casual wink, something not expected of her. “Unfortunately, peer pressure is something I may never get over.”

“It was my fault that she got the taint in the first place,” Michael said. “However, I am glad to inform Your Majesty and the Lady Duchess that the Commander is now stable.” At the very least, he could put some effort to not make any social faux pas in front of two top ranking nobles.

“We are aware,” the Duchess said. “I have been keeping tabs on her. She continues to stay in her coma even now.”

“I see.” Michael forced himself to smile before trying to segue their topic into his original purpose on coming here. “Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I wish to ask a favor of you, despite that.”

“Speak, I was called forth due to your demand after all—so I am all ears.”

“The short version would be somehow on my mission in Japan, I acquired a spirit which introduced itself as the Archangel Uriel. Miss Mary recently confirmed it being him. While that would’ve been a matter that doesn’t warrant any immediate action, the Archangel seems to have something—a plot if you will—and talked about Watchers and other things it assumes that I know, but I don’t have any knowledge of.”

“So your request would be for me to verify this plot of the Archangel?”

“I just want to know why. Why does he think I should know what he is talking about, and why was Miss Mary hurt.”

“ ...Mary Linfield was hurt?”

“He did say it wasn’t him hurting her, but yes she was.”

“Mister Michael Kallweit, we shall provide this warning just in case,” the Duchess interrupted. “None other than those here are privy to the matters you are witnessing now. Perhaps Aramus Valmark a little, but… try not to speak about it altogether unless you are with the appropriate individuals.”

“You have my word.” The mention of the Magister’s name raised his eyebrows, but it was not his concern nor his interest.

The look of the Queen seemed different to Michael now. Before he knew it, she was older. Just like the person he had met in the Queen’s Meeting.

“With my grace and privilege I command you to answer my call. Archangel Uriel, show yourself,” Queen Victoria declared with majesty and a tone that made Michael even more nervous of the situation.

The light around Michael formed again even as he was sitting.

“If it isn’t Her Royal Majesty,” Uriel spoke. Michael remembered the same voice indeed, but the angel spoke with great respect and his superior tone was not heard.

“I—who am of the Heavens—shall have you answer the questions.”

“…Regarding the †˜plot’ he claims, I suspect? Why would you ever think that I—an angel—am plotting?”

“If not, then what would be the purpose of watching me? I am nothing more than a simple servant of the Church.” Michael’s voice was shaking a little as he was barely keeping up with the amount of power the room contained literally and figuratively.

“A simple servant of the Church?” The Archangel’s laugh roared across the hall. “Look back at your past! And think. Think good of what you have been through. Then answer to me, Michael, what is †˜simple’?”

“W-Well I was a chimney sweep too, but how is that relevant—maybe the time I was shining shoes?” Michael just became more confused. What was he before the Church? He worked various jobs for coin, none of them relevant to his question.

“Do you even know the name of your parents?”

“My mother… my mother was Joan Kallweit. I never knew my father.”

“That answer… is false.”

“My Circlet of Wisdom cannot confirm that statement, either,” the Queen stated. “That is likely not the truth.”

“W-What?” Michael was in shock; this was the very foundation of his being that was being proven false.

““And you would think your life ordinary? Not long ago did you meet Mary Linfield, and your life—changed. Even if you walked into it yourself, it was to happen inevitably.”

“Isn’t that just circumstances? Should I not help a person in need? What does this have to do with my past?”

“That is your past now, or do you imply that it remains your present? Your fight with the Representative was also a crucial turn in your life.”

“But what does my parentage have to do with this? I just… I just did what I believed right!”

“That is fine,” the Queen said, but she wasn’t smiling like usual. “I believe you do not see what the Archangel is attempting to convey.”

“I am more confused than ever before; is there something I am missing?”

“Archangel Uriel is only providing examples. I think Archangels are a little too awkward to speak with from a human’s perspective,” the Queen responded. “By no means is your life truly ordinary, this he wants to prove to you. A simple servant of the Church—as you put it—is likely true, but I suppose your holy spirit there does not quite prefer you to demean yourself.”

“But never did I think even for a second that this job of mine is in any way demeaning,” Michael replied to the Queen. “But I suppose I did get involved in matters beyond my scope, in a way.”

“Perhaps you will one day learn why my opinion differs. However, I do not have any true intention to force them upon you. One of these reasons I observe is to see how you’ll come to view the truth after you glimpse at them.”

“I have one more question. What did that empty throne mean?”

“ ...Is that a question directed at me?”

“Yes.”

“I am afraid I cannot answer it. I shall point you to the direction, however. She who is of the Heavens—may surely know your answer. After all, she summoned me here.”

“Her Majesty the Queen?” Michael slowly turned to the Queen, confused. Something the Queen could answer and an Archangel couldn’t? Was that even possible?

“How… are you aware the throne remains empty?” the Queen inquired.

“I dreamt of it; the light, the empty throne. There was a question about †˜true salvation.’”

“Is this the reason, Archangel Uriel?”

“I had hoped that you would come to realize. Your wisdom is worth every praise.”

“I shall rest my case. I see no harm in the Archangel watching over you.”

“What just happened?” Somehow the Queen and the Archangel agreed on something.

“Mister Michael Kallweit, it is unfortunate but there is some knowledge that is not allowed for all to hear. I shall answer. However, I do not think there will be any turning back after this. Are you truly prepared to face your future?”

“I cannot turn back now more so than ever.” Michael’s mind felt exhausted if he were to be truthful, but his curiosity, his hunger for the truth surpassed any fatigue by a large margin.

“The question was obviously posed by none other than the Archangel. I suppose that is when he began to watch over you. The throne… however, is a different story.”

“And I suppose that is a story for a different time?”

“I do not think you can remain as who you are now if I tell you. Forgive my hesitation. After all, as one who love the humans, this is rather a challenge for me.”

“Even if… Even if I am willing to take that risk?” He was alway chided for his recklessness anyway.

““I cannot agree to this. He doesn’t even know—”

“I understand,” the Queen said immediately, closing her eyes with a pained look. It seemed as though she calmed herself and looked down at Michael again. “Unfortunately, I am in agreement with your observer here. It may sound selfish, but would you accept my condition instead?”

“Condition?”

“When you earn your birth inheritance, you shall come to me. If you gain it—it shall be proof of your knowledge of the truth. If what the Watchers reported is true, then it is as the Archangel said… the tidings of destiny is but a step away.”

“I accept.” Inheritance? That old place? What would the Queen want with a run down shack?

“When you gain the inheritance, you would likely clear some misunderstandings. Whatever the case, perhaps you will soon gain it… or perhaps much later. Destiny is a mysterious thing. Even the angels cannot truly predict its whims.”

“Even so. I seek the truth behind all this.” He closed his fists and steeled his resolve.

The Queen smiled again, albeit wryly. “Trust me, finding out the truth with the eyes is at least a hundred times more believable.”

“Sometimes we just got to have faith.”

“Then have at it.”


“Archangel, grant him the ring.”

“Very well. Do not lose this in any way.”

The light of the Archangel coiled and left from around Michael, before finally turning into a golden ring.

“This will warp you over to where I am… of course, along with whoever you are in contact with. Feel free to come seek me for your answers after you glimpse at the truth,” the Queen stated.

“And I will know when the time comes, I presume?”

“I am sure you will come to realize. This instinct exists in us all.”

“Then I will do just that. Thank you for being patient with me,” Michael bows deeply in sheer gratitude.

“Has he not… you know, disappeared already?” the Duchess questioned. “That light turned into the ring. His spiritual presence faded.”

The Queen was back with her usual demeanor as before. “Ah, yes. He used up his energy that he cast the spell with to watch over him. Likely, he will be observing Mister Michael before he knows it again.”

“I am completely grateful for your help, Your Majesty, Lady Duchess. I do not know how I can repay this favor.”

“Well, I must get going now, lest I infuriate those parliamentarians…” the Queen said, peeking behind her for some reason. “I am still safe… maybe now I can… ahem. Anyway, I bid you two farewell for now! Good luck with the battle against Virgo. I shall be watching.”

The form of Queen Victoria broke and turned to dust and particles as soon as she said so.

“Her Majesty is kind of childish like this sometimes,” the Duchess said, smiling fondly, she then turned to Michael. “You can by doing your best in the battle. I have to say, though. I heard some interesting things tonight.”

“Well I was planning to do my best in the first place, so does that mean I got it off for free?” Michael clarified, scratching the back of his head.

The Duchess laughed. “Well, I just like to help sometimes. It seemed like there was something going on with Mary, too. You know her identity as a Representative, yes?”

“Well, even if I didn’t after seeing what Claudia can do and knowing Mary can do better, one would be able to deduce that she’s at least at that level,” Michael replied, putting on the ring.

“I know how you will be able to pay me back then; if you learn of her mysteries, I would love to know. It seems like the Queen knows her from the past too so it is definitely interesting. Mary’s rumors are not the only thing that makes her so mysterious. It is also her connections to Charlotte who is—by the by—her friend back at the Royal Academy.”

“Then I will do just that. I will find out her mysteries and save her from her contract while I’m at it.”

“Assuming her contract is with the Descendant who turned her like this… would that not mean that you would have to… kill her to free her?”

“I’d find a way to save her.”

“I wish you luck. You should go back to your hotel and rest now… you never know when the disaster will strike. Might as well rest up while you can.”

“Thank you once more, Lady Duchess. I would’ve been wrapped in confusion—well more than what I feel now if it weren’t for you and Her Majesty’s grace. Best of luck and God bless to you both.”

“You are welcome. I just hope you find your answers.”