Mel rubbed her hand and winced. "So, what exactly did we do?"
Before her was a strange metallic device that looked like wings folding over a ball of fire. The Core. Himvel's machine, which created the fake sun.
The Queen watched the disks of light that flowed over the machine. They flickered and dimmed but didn't go out. After letting out a sigh of relief, the woman began to speak. "On the first day of the games, one of the Knights, Davi Hawker, came very close to the sun. This caused the Core to flare, and the beast inside of it nearly pulled itself out but was thankfully unable to escape. We came here to reengage the locks, which takes two hands, hence me needing you."
"Why'd we need to do that?"
"Because Davi was planning on using the sun."
"What?"
"People with a certain trait can hear the thing in the Core speak to them. The sun is created from bits of its own mana, and so those who get near the sun hear it more and more. Rage once asked about the voice in the sky, which means he can hear it as well, and I passed this information on to Davi. His plan was to lure the Sea God into the air somehow and get him to get frozen, giving them all the time to take him out."
"Do you think it worked?" Mel asked hesitantly.
"The Core flared up. That means the two of them did cause the thing within to go ballistic. We thankfully kept it sealed this time, and without a doubt, one of them died." The queen rubbed her chin and hummed. "The tricky thing is figuring out who won. If we go up there, it could be Rage, or it could be Davi, and his plan worked out." The woman gave a half-smirk. "What do you think?"
Mel glanced at the exit of the room. There was no real way of telling until she returned to the surface. All the Knights could be dead with Rage standing over their corpses, or maybe, just maybe, they were actually able to defeat him?
Mel thought of all the Knights she met and then of High. She had hope. "I think they won. I want to hope that they did at the very least."
"Only one way to find out." The queen chuckled. "Let's go. Today is a historical moment."
History was being written as they spoke.
In more ways than one…
***
Olivia breathed heavily, Storymaker suddenly weighing a ton in her hands. Her witchout fit faded and shattered, her polymorph breaking apart. It wasn't a true use of the skill and was more or less a jump-started version she used by forcing her inner Core to swell with power thanks to the monster Core Davi fed her.
Still, it had been enough.
Blood flowed out of Neptune's neck wound, splattering high in the air and raining down on them. Davi gazed at the god's headless body, a mix of emotions present on his face. Slowly, his armor faded away, as did his cloak. He collapsed onto his back and sighed.
"Please tell me it's over." He groaned, clutching at his stomach, which still had a gaping hole in it.
Olivia coldly stared down at Neptune's severed head. "Yeah. It's over."
Neptune's head sputtered and gasped. Blood flowed out the bottom, and steam began to rise off his flesh, which sizzled at the spot Olivia's blade touched. Without any warning, his head and his body ignited in blood-red fire, and his skin started to melt and burn.
"N-No." Neptune gasped, and flickers of mana flowed from his neck to his severed head. His body began to push up, and his head was placed back on, but it didn't last. The fire surged around him even hotter, and his left leg shattered and exploded, causing him to fall forward, and once again his head rolled off his body, staring up at Davi. "No, no, no! It can't end like this. Do you know who I am?" Neptune hissed even as his lips turned to dust. "I am… I… I'm… W-Who am I… I… Neptune? I… No… Before I was…"
Neptune's eyes fixed on Davi, and his broken body once again tried to move. It weakly reached toward Davi, who had sat up and stared down at the melting god with a look that might have been pity.
"I'll strangle you. You who have inherited his heart… I will…" The hand broke away. Davi didn't even bother moving. Neptune's body crumpled to dust, shattering apart, leaving only his head, which was still melting and coming undone. "Cold…" The monster wheezed. "I'm so cold."
Davi crouched down and reached out, taking the remains in his hands. The fire didn't burn him or even feel warm. It was cold, actually. Like a blizzard.
"What are you doing?" Olivia demanded, but Davi ignored her and kept his hold on the severed head. "Davi?"
"Where am I?" Neptune's eyes stopped blinking, and by this point, it didn't even have a mouth, only speaking through pure mana. "Who am I? How did I get here? What happened? My world? What happened to my world? Why couldn't I save it? What happened to me? Who was I? I don't understand. Why am I me? What was my name? I- Why did I become Neptune?"
Davi stared down at the clump of flesh as it burned and melted. There were no eyes to meet. He felt his heart start to beat faster and faster, and for some reason, thoughts and memories that weren't his suddenly appeared in his mind.
Just like with the Ebony Knight, he saw things. A wretched being that should have never been born. A brother who saved him. A vast sea, and then water filled his lungs. He sank into the ocean, the one in which he fled to after escaping his hostile home, and he gazed upon the greater being, the sea god, Neptune, and watched as the world crumbled and he and Neptune became one.
Something akin to a Rite of Marriage had been performed. A being from another world who merged with this lonely sea god.
Davi's expression changed as he heard this being's name and finished seeing bits of its life. This being who was now Neptune but before had been someone else. This entity who had suffered and wanted their world back but had tried to take his and so he had helped kill it. He gazed upon that little, pathetic, wretched creature, and talked to it.
"Agapitós." Davi spoke softly, and suddenly the head froze. "Your name is Agapitós."
Neptune made one last gasping sound. "Agapitós? Agapitós? Agapitós? Yes… I think that's correct."
"How do you know that?" Olivia asked, bewildered.
Davi hummed. "I just took a guess. It means 'beloved,' just as my name does as well. I always thought it was ironic that my mom gave me that name since she had no love for me, but I think in a way it can suit him. He must have really loved his world a lot to go through all this trouble. He's evil, and what he did was wrong, and I don't think he deserves to be forgiven, but still. I can at least say that he was full of love."
The remains of Neptune's head shattered and faded away, turning to ash, which the wind swept away. There was no third phase, no comeback, and no surprise reveal. The God of the Sea, Neptune, a being who saw over nine thousand four hundred and fifty-one worlds, truly died.
'One down, seven more to go. ;]'
Olivia stared at the dust with a hollowed expression on her face. Eventually, it was no longer visible. "I thought that maybe it would change things." She muttered quietly. "I know it was stupid, but part of me was hoping something would happen, you know? Like Rosco would come back or it would somehow make up for all the horrible things that monster did, but nope. That's not how the real world works, is it?" Her arms shook, and she nearly dropped Storymaker. "I killed him, yet nothing changed."
Davi slowly pushed himself up and wrapped his arms around her. "Things did change. It's true we can't change the past, but that doesn't mean we can't alter the future. By taking him out here, we've ensured others won't suffer as Rosco did at the hands of that monster. We've also proven to that group that we aren't so weak. We're not characters in a novel. We're real people. We have lives and dreams, and we're all doing everything we can to keep on living. Olivia, we're alive."
Despite everything, Olivia managed to crack a smile and pulled away from Davi, wiping her eyes. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that fucker's dead; I just wish it did more, you know. I guess I'm greedy."
"There's nothing wrong with being greedy."
"Most people would disagree with you on that point." Olivia let out a slightly bitter chuckle and glanced down at Storymaker, which was still grasped in her hands. After she told Laerton about Davi's plan, she had also forced Pock to open a portal, which was how she arrived at the top of the train just in time to slay the monster. The kill was something she was both glad happened and frustrated at the fact that it took her that long.
At last, it was over, though.
"Olivia."
"Yeah?" She turned to Davi and found him looking out across the sky at something. Slowly she followed his gaze and gasped.
The wind had long swept Neptune's remains off, but now what little ash was left sparkled and glowed. Particles of dust lit up with bright flashes of colorful lights, and they twisted into hundreds of different shapes, all dancing around and standing in the air. The colorful lights almost looked to be in the shapes of people, just like when he had gotten the birds to briefly return back to normal.
The color lights continued to dance before slowly, one by one, they lifted into the air and faded out of sight, popping away in a brilliant display of flashing colors as if they were fireworks. They continued to do this until only a single one was left.
Glowing blue energy took the shape of a person, and it floated until it was in front of them. A tendril of energy reached out, and it almost seemed to take the shape of a hand and cupped Olivia's cheek. She stifled a gasp that almost broke out into a sob as she looked at the energy, and for a moment her eyes saw Rosco.
It was only a second, and the blue light removed its hand. After that, it turned to Davi, gave him a soft nod, and then it to lifted into the air and faded away.
Olivia reached out for it but stopped, and her arm dropped. Instead, she took Davi's hand and squeezed it as tightly as she could. "Do you have any idea what that was?"
"I lost the plot a while ago," Davi admitted, squeezing her hand back. "By the way, how do we get down from here? Not to make everything about me, but I have a hole in my stomach."
Olivia's smile grew slightly, and she turned away, still gripping onto him. "Pock created a portal. It should open back up any time." As if on cue, the space in front of them distorted and broke as a zipper slid down, opening up into a portal. Olivia glanced back at him. "Come on. Let's head back."
Davi gave a nod, and together the two of them stepped forward, about to enter. "Yeah. Let's go." It was certainly a long and hard-fought battle, but finally everything was coming to an end. At last they'd all be able to relax and take a moment to collect their thoughts, having finally closed out this chapter-
The train suddenly faded, and Davi gasped as he found himself falling, now no longer holding onto Olivia's hand. Everything around him vanished, turning into an endless sea of white, and his head suddenly felt like it was about to implode. Blood dripped down his nose and eyes, and he winced in pain.
Out of nowhere, something began to appear in the sea of white. Large golden doors shimmered into view, locked shut and bound with chains. A figure sat in front of the endless sea of white, quietly writing something into a book.
The figure in question wore long, dirty robes, which were patched together and yet still falling apart. He had a pair of bright crimson red eyes and long reddish brown hair, which was tied into a ponytail, and his face was filled with stress lines. Despite all that, the man somehow managed a smile when he saw Davi.
"Well, well, well. Look who it is. I haven't seen you since you were a little boy. My, how you have grown." Arthur Roads, father of Mary Lot, the Great Dragon of Roads, stood up and looked Davi up and down. "I guess you being here means Rosco is dead, huh?" The man's smile faded, and a somber look crossed onto his face. "I never wanted him to die. I thought that by hiding him next to Mary, it'd keep that shard safe since they would detect him, but alas, it seems I made a blunder in my plan. I suppose that's why it took them so long to act. Mary left her home, and that finally allowed that particular group to learn the whereabouts of the last of my shards. I guess it all worked out in the end, though. After all, you recollected the missing piece."
"Who the hell are you?" Davi took several steps back and raised his arms up in a fighting stance. He knew it was pointless, though. The energy this man was giving off was the same as Neptune's. There was no way he'd be able to win in a fight.
Arthur let out a loud laugh. "Seriously? Your first instinct is to come swinging on me? You know we have met before." The man gave a smile, one filled with fangs. "Of course, back then I was in my other form."
Davi's eyes widened. "Are you-"
"Listen, I'll make this brief, as we don't have long." Arthur cut Davi off. "I don't know what you do and don't know, so pay attention. I'm going to save our world. Forces out of our control want to end it, but I won't let that happen. I'll become a Saint and take the Rite of Saints ritual. Reaching the doors of Rome wasn't enough; I have to shatter them and go on the same walk Haru did. So far I've been unable to get the doors to open, however." Arthur glanced back at the golden doors and frowned. "In the meantime, I've started the Rite of Saints by splitting my power and sections of my soul and body and placing them into seven people. I didn't do this unnoticed, however. Eight powerful beings want to collect my shards and break the doors of Rome down themselves. Luckily, they haven't gotten any pieces, and they don't know where Rome is since I've hidden it in a very clever spot." Arthur's grin grew, and he winked as if it were some inside joke.
"Wait? Eight? I thought it was seven?"
"No." Arthur shook his head. "Eight beings from other worlds have all banded together. They've been planning this for a while. Each of them wants to break down Rome's door and use its power to reset our world in order to bring theirs back. Like me, they've all reached Rome and so have managed to ascend and become a greater being, something you might refer to as a god. Most of their power has been limited now that they are back on the planet, but it's not outright gone. In order to keep them from Rome, I went ahead and hid it, but they want to find my seven pieces. Each piece you gain allows your connection to the real me to grow stronger. You're in luck. You're currently holding my Heart and my Thoughts. Collect the other five and you'll likely be able to come here yourself and could even become a greater being all on your own." Arthur smirked.
"No thanks, I have no desire to become a god."
"Good, because a god isn't what this world needs." Arthur shook his head. "A God isn't near enough. We must become greater than God, just as Haru once did. That is the task I shall do. Listen up, those eight beings are going to come after you. In order to exist here, they had to make a Vow. That Vow limits their power, but as they lose members, their limiters will be removed. If you killed one and reclaimed the Thoughts like I think you did, then you've gone ahead and made the others a bit stronger."
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
"I'm afraid not. The last member left standing will have the full power of a greater being with no restrictions, but the other members are massively weakened so long as they're all alive. Because of this, I think it'd be best to take them all out at once if you can."
"Understood. Now, how about you answer some of my questions?"
"Nope."
"What?"
"We're out of time," Arthur gave a thumbs up. "I'll see you if you get another piece; till then!"
Davi gasped, and suddenly he was back on the train. "What the fuck is wrong with all these greater beings!" He grumbled.
"What's wrong?" Olivia asked, startled.
"I think I just met your dad."
"What!"
"Oh, and also your dad is the Great Dragon of Roads."
"WHAT!"
Davi grinned. Now that the Ebony Knight's soul sword was gone, he wasn't under anyone's control. Evelyn had told Olivia a bit about the Dragon, but now he could finally tell her everything. "Evelyn is a lying, evil, but admittedly hot woman who is also planning on you dying, and I think I might try and take her out now that I am free."
"What the fuck is going on?!" Olivia asked, absolutely bewildered.
To make matters worse, the train suddenly stopped flying. The mana that ran it faded out, and then, without any warning, both her and Davi were hurdling through the sky at crazy speeds. She screamed and clung on to Davi, who somehow looked calm.
"Oh cool, death by falling."
"Not cool!" She screamed at him.
At the last second before they hit the ground, another portal opened, and the two of them rolled out across the snow, finally back in front of the Phoenix Flight guild.
All the members looked down at the two of them with hopeful expressions. "And?" Laerton asked, being held up by Ragna.
"It's over." Davi gave a thumbs up, and everyone loudly cheered and let out relieved sighs.
"So we're not all going to die?" Sieg asked in a thankful tone.
"Hell yeah!" Ken threw her arms up. "That means I can do this!" Then, without warning, she grabbed Olivia and kissed her.
Olivia's eyes widened, and she placed her hands on Ken's shoulders, unsure if she should push the woman away or pull her closer. "Why are we kissing?" Olivia asked when Ken pulled back slightly.
"We're alive?"
"You know what, sure." And then Olivia kissed Ken, which caused several of the guild members to cheer louder.
"I can't believe it's actually over," Olem muttered, standing next to his creator and his brother.
"It's almost like we really did get a happy ending." Himvel mused.
Pock danced around everyone, hopping from foot to foot. "We actually won! Truth be told, I was debating making a run for it and leaving you all to die several times!"
Susie folded her arms and let out a tired sigh, leaning against Miranda and the seated Gormay. "Are things always this exciting?"
"When the entire guild goes out on a mission, they often are." Miranda gave a small grin and finally finished tying off Gormay's foot.
Ragna wrapped his arms around Clause and Mama Herta, and together the three of them all began to sing some tune. While that happened, Falco and Ghost began to argue over who did more in the fight, and Vlad adjusted his cloak and rubbed his forehead.
"New high score." The man muttered.
Sieg smiled at his brother. "You did well."
"I know." Davi almost laughed before wincing and grabbing at his stomach. He slipped and fell forward, but Laerton caught him. "I don't suppose we can go and rest now, can we?" He asked sheepishly.
Laerton lifted Davi up, casually placing the grown man on her back, and she turned in the direction of the city. "Alright, everyone! New quest! Taking a goddamn break!"
Phoenix Flight marched off, finally finished with their mission.
Myth and several of his own guildmates watched them leave. "They sure are a lively bunch." Myth hummed.
"Maybe this sort of thing is normal for them." Battery shrugged. "They seem to get beaten up a lot."
"Yes, well, I think we can safely say this time they beat us." Myth hummed, tugging on his beard. "Phoenix Flight defeated the God of the Sea."