Flash-!
Boom boom boom!
Lightning strikes and winds howl.
Junior and Reyna continued their fierce exchange.
Junior, suppressing the aching in her chest, swallowed the blood surging within her, and kept unleashing attacks.
Reyna still overwhelmingly outmatched her in hand-to-hand combat. To stand against Reyna, Junior extracted every bit of her magical power.
As if there was no tomorrow, sparing nothing.
"Hah, hah, huk!"
Breath became labored.
The harsh use of magic felt like burning up all the mana in her body. Yet, Junior persisted.
...Junior thought.
How painfully challenging it is, to keep living.
The world is always unfair and sometimes resentful.
Overcoming one obstacle only reveals the next.
No clear answers, no convincing explanations... Just colliding, getting hurt, and moving forward.
Life is full of challenges, intrinsically heavy and harsh.
"Hah, huk, ck...!"
But that's why,
Life is valuable.
Having fought through this difficult path, crawling here battered and bruised...
The hill of conquered adversities piling up, becoming a towering peak.
- I've come this far.
Pride in looking back at oneself.
At the same time, seeing the path ahead, not giving up.
- After overcoming all kinds of adversities, why can't I overcome this one more hurdle in front of me?
She recalled the enemies she faced over time.
The Wolf King, the Goblin God-King, the Ghost Ship Captain,
The Vampire King...
Countless monsters. Endless hardships. She remembers them all.
She overcame those brutal times.
Why can't she overcome this current challenge?
Thud! Thud!
Boom boom boom-!
"Kek!"
Flung by Reyna's gust, Junior quickly regained her posture and fired lightning.
"Hup!"
Reyna dodged the lightning, firing a wind bullet from her fingertips.
Junior violently coughed up blood. She had already reached her limit.
Yet, despite this, she continued to fight, squeezing out every last bit of her mana, and Junior suddenly smiled.
Perhaps the world may end someday.
It might be easier to give up fighting, accept defeat, and hide.
But-
'I'd rather die fighting than hide in fear.'
That was the way of life Jupiter Junior chose.
Burning herself to the last bit, the last fragment.
Click, click, click-!
Junior's staff, [Lord of Crimson], made irregular mechanical sounds as it transformed on its own.
Recently purified, [Lord of Crimson] had acquired a few new functions.
Among them, what she was about to use now-
One of Vampire King Celendion's unique abilities, ultra-fast chanting!
Woooong!
[Lord of Crimson], emitting a red magical light, completed its preparation.
"...?!"
Sensing an unusual aura, Reyna's eyes widened.
From the start, Junior had been channeling magic into this staff. The battle with Reyna was merely a distraction.
And once it was filled with sufficient magic, [Lord of Crimson] completed a spell instantly using its ultra-fast chanting feature.
Clang-!
A sound of space cracking rang out in the air.
A brilliant halo rose in the sky, and light flowed through the broken space.
[Elemental Disassembly].
Junior's ultimate move and the most powerful Mana-burn skill, reducing the target's magic to negative.
However, [Elemental Disassembly] has one fatal weakness. It requires an overwhelmingly long casting time.
In a battlefield where lives are at stake every second, the [Elemental Disassembly], taking more than ten minutes just to cast, is a difficult ultimate move to use except in defensive situations.
But Junior, with the special ability of the Nightmare Slayer, could use her ultimate skill without giving Rayna a chance to react.
'Oh no, I've been caught...?!'
Knowing the power of [Elemental Disassembly], Rayna gritted her teeth, expecting all her magic power to evaporate from her body.
But, that was not the case.
Junior never intended to use her ultimate skill on Rayna from the beginning.
What Junior aimed for was... the Shutdown Protocol magic circle right behind Rayna.
The very center of it.
Changrang! Changrang-!
Sounds like breaking glass rang out in succession, and the magic power that had been concentrated in the center of the huge magic circle evaporated all at once.
From the magic power prepared for the use of the Shutdown Protocol to the reserve magic power that made up the basic magic circle.
Under Junior's ultimate skill, all of it evaporated indiscriminately.
"...Huh."
Rayna opened her mouth slightly in disbelief at the sight.
Now, the Shutdown Protocol had become like an airship lost of fuel, utterly useless.
If at least the outer magic circle had been intact, they could have drawn magic power from the outside to recharge, but now, the outer magic circle was also being neutralized one after the other.
With the central magic circle, which was the main operating part, now discharged.
In fact, the Shutdown Protocol was now completely neutralized.
"...If it had been hit directly by an offensive spell, there might have been a chance to reuse it."
Rayna chuckled bitterly, looking down at the facility that was now just meaningless lines and symbols etched on the floor, no longer a magic circle, as all the magic power had evaporated.
"This is unusable. It's completely... over."
"..."
"But you made a mistake, Junior. You got the order reversed."
Rayna glared at Junior. Junior was leaning against the wall, gasping for breath.
She had used up an extreme amount of magic power in the intense battle and her ultimate skill.
Junior was now completely drained of magic power. Looking at Junior, pale and bleeding from the nose, Rayna bit her lip.
"If you were going to aim, you should have targeted me first. Then destroyed the magic circle."
"..."
"If the magic circle is neutralized first, and I am still in this fine condition..."
Rayna gathered the power of the wind at her fingertips and strode towards Junior.
"I'll have enough left to kill you."
"..."
"You've made a fatal mistake, Junior. As a mage, you should have been more cold-blooded. Just changing the order of the magic would have been much-"
Not listening to any more of Rayna's growling words.
Staggering forward, Junior spread her arms wide...
And hugged Rayna tightly.
With a completely serene face. Even a faint smile on her lips.
"..."
Rayna's entire body stiffened.
Junior whispered softly.
"It's okay."
"..."
"We're okay with this..."
Rayna couldn't understand the meaning of this hug.
What was okay.
Who 'we' referred to.
She couldn't understand anything at all.
...Looking back, Jupiter was the same.
On days when they had fierce arguments, she would silently approach and hug tightly, not letting go until the anger subsided.
Saying that a single hug can convey more stories than a hundred words of conversation.
That woman, always smiling...
"..."
Rayna, with her eyes wide open in disbelief, stood still like a statue.
"...Idiot."
She pressed her magic-filled fingertips to Junior's chest,
"You really are... just like your mother."
And shot without hesitation.
Thuk-!
The magic power gathered from the deepest part of Rayna's heart pierced right through Junior's heart.
***
Junior's heart was penetrated by Rayna's magic power.
Junior thought death was now upon her. But it was not so.
"...?"
Upon opening her trembling eyes, Junior realized she was still breathing.
Unable to comprehend this phenomenon, Junior eventually noticed.
Rayna, who had shot the magic power, was instead collapsed on the ground.
"Captain Rayna...?!"
Panic-stricken, Junior staggered towards Rayna. Rayna lay there, pale-faced, blood trickling from her mouth.
"...When all the magic power is used up to the bottom, the residual elements at the bottom are exposed."
"What?"
"It meant it wasn't a bad environment for performing the last surgery."
Rayna coughed up blood roughly.
"Cough! Ha... I've removed all the residual elements in your magic power and transferred my heart's 'Source Magic Power' to your magic power."
"What does that mean...?"
"Now, even if residual elements regenerate, they won't tear apart your magic power anymore. My Source Magic Power will absorb them..."
Source Magic Power.
Something akin to the innate true energy, serving a role similar to a magic core for human mages.
Since it's practically the source of life, a mage losing this... naturally dies.
Rayna had transplanted hers into Junior's heart.
"Why? Why... would you do such a thing?"
Confused, Junior asked, and Rayna chuckled weakly, her eyes dimming.
"Don't be mistaken. It's not because of any guilt towards you or some trivial sense of justice."
"..."
"I failed in my mission, and if I lived, I'd be caught as a traitor who tried to massacre the citizens of the Imperial Capital. It's just a clean way to end it all as a soldier before that happens."
Rayna's breathing grew weaker. With a dying voice, she murmured.
"But you were there in front of me... Just indulging in a whim with a life that I was going to end anyway."
"..."
"It was my magic bombardment that originally engraved the residual elements in your heart..."
Rayna smiled faintly with her blood-stained, trembling lips.
"That's all it was."
"..."
Junior did not probe further.
Despite several chances to kill her during the battle, why she kept sparing her.
Although there were numerous chances to activate the magic circle, why she kept delaying, prolonging the inevitable.
Why she kept playing the role of a mentor until the end, teaching her the stance of a mage.
She didn't ask for those reasons.
Because she was a villain.
It was her choice to meet a villain's end.
Rayna, collapsed on the floor, weakly raised her hand. Junior took it in hers.
"Don't forgive me."
"I won't."
Junior nodded.
"I'll never forgive you for the rest of my life."
"..."
"And... I'll never forget you for the rest of my life."
A look of satisfied relief flashed across Rayna's wrinkled face.
"That's enough."
Junior, without being asked, found a cigarette in Rayna's belongings and placed it in her mouth, lighting it for her.
Drawing in the smoke for the last time, Rayna whispered.
"Hey, Jupiter's daughter."
"Speak."
"Someday, when the world becomes peaceful, and you've aged just right. Make sure to build a villa with a swimming pool in the warm south... and enjoy a fantastic retirement."
Suddenly, Rayna's eyes flashed with a memory from long ago.
"...A life your mother and I only promised but never got to enjoy."
Wearing the same military uniform, smoking the same cigarettes, joking and chatting together.
The dear image of Lightning Flash.
"Since I've extended your life, make sure..."
Rayna's eyes slowly closed.
"Live long and happy..."
Thud.
The cigarette fell from Rayna's lips.
Junior, holding her cold hand, silently observed her fallen face.
She would remember.
Even though she couldn't forgive or avenge,
Junior would remember the face of this heavily burdened soldier who stole her life and, in the end, gave it back.
Until the end of this life, Junior would remember.
After laying Rayna's body down neatly, Junior staggered to her feet.
Leaning on a staff, straightening her trembling back, she looked up at the sky.
Still pouring rain - but a sky that shone brighter than ever before.
At the end of facing death, life had begun again.
And being alive, she must continue to run.
Junior looked up at the Thorn Castle, continuously soaring towards the sky.
Now, only the final showdown remained in this siege of the Imperial Capital.
***
Above New Terra.
Inside the 'Final Ark', Thorn Castle. The Audience Chamber.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
"..."
"..."
Fernandez and I were dumbstruck, seeing the person who suddenly appeared at the entrance of the Audience Chamber.
I called out the person's name with a bitter taste.
"...Brother Lark?"
Despite being in a ghastly state, having lost all limbs, how on earth did he manage to get here?
Wiping the sweat off his gaunt face with the half-remaining forearm,
"I've come to take you home, brothers."
Lark 'Avalanche' Everblack, the First Prince of the Empire, smiled faintly.
"Let's go home together."