Elric chuckled softly as he continued walking toward the restaurant, completely unconcerned with the chaos he had left behind.
Meanwhile—
Arlo slowly rose to his feet.
The wind around him screamed.
Black, blood-like sludge poured from his eyes as his body trembled under the influence of the artifact.
Arthur adjusted his glasses and smiled with unsettling confidence.
"Don't worry."
His tone was calm.
"Despite the customs of this barbaric land, nonlethal fighting is actually my specialty."
He spun his revolver once.
"Back home, we were encouraged to bring villains in alive."
A grin spread across his face.
"And punished if we killed them."
Around Arlo, the air began to warp.
Twist.
Fold.
It looked as though the very space around him had become a sheet of paper being bent and crumpled by invisible hands.
"Sky Control."
Arlo's voice was ragged.
The warped air condensed into countless spinning projectiles.
Compressed wind.
Sharpened.
Stabilized.
Made lethal.
He was mimicking Arthur's bullets.
A storm of them came rushing down.
Azura reacted instantly.
She jumped in front of Arthur without hesitation.
"Whirlpool Barrier!"
A large barrier of water formed around the two of them.
Inside it, multiple whirlpools spun in the opposite direction of the incoming air bullets. The clashing rotations weakened the projectiles, slowing them enough that they lost the force needed to pierce through.
The barrage hit the barrier—
But failed to break it.
Arthur gave a quick nod.
"Good work."
Black sand swirled around his hands.
"Metallica — Disturbed."
New rounds formed in his grasp and loaded into his revolver.
Rubber bullets.
Nonlethal.
Painful.
Precise.
"These won't kill him," Arthur said.
"But they'll hurt enough to throw off his focus."
He glanced at Azura.
"I'll trust you with the finisher."
Then he fired.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Every six shots, he reloaded in one smooth motion and kept firing.
Arlo adapted quickly.
Too quickly.
With each burst of gunfire, he manipulated the currents around himself, bending the bullets off course before they could land cleanly.
Then he rose.
Using Sky Control, he took to the air, suspended by warped currents as he rained down more spinning bullets of compressed wind from above.
As the battle continued—
Azura's mind drifted.
Not away from the fight—
But deeper into herself.
Into memory.
She was young again.
Small.
Barely twelve.
Standing beside her brother beneath an open sky.
The wind danced around Arlo as he floated effortlessly above the ground, smiling down at her like nothing in the world could ever touch them.
"Woah, big brother…"
Azura's eyes sparkled.
"Your magic is amazing."
She clasped her hands together.
"Do you think I could ever become as talented as you?"
Arlo laughed softly.
"Of course."
He drifted lower, the wind carrying him with impossible ease.
"Magic is the expression of freedom."
His voice was warm.
"Wherever your heart feels free…"
He stretched out a hand toward the sky.
"…magic can take you there."
Azura blinked.
"…Freedom?"
A small bubble of water formed in her palm.
Arlo smiled.
"Exactly."
He landed lightly in front of her.
"Wind and water are the freest elements of all."
He tapped her bubble gently.
"You wield water. I wield wind."
His orange eyes shone with confidence.
"So the two of us…"
He grinned.
"…can accomplish anything."
Azura's face lit up.
She closed her eyes and focused.
The water in her hand began to change.
It took shape—
Delicate.
Beautiful.
A tiny ballerina spun within it, like a dancer trapped inside a music box. Around her, small bubbles floated upward like little musical notes drifting into the air.
Arlo's eyes widened.
Then softened.
"See?"
He smiled.
"I told you."
The memory shifted.
Twisted.
Darkened.
A few weeks before she had met River—
She was crying.
Not in a beautiful field.
Not beneath an open sky.
But in filth.
On the floor.
Bruised.
Hungry.
Alone.
"Useless meat shield."
Her slave master's voice echoed in her head.
A kick slammed into her side.
"Your only job is to make barriers for us."
His voice dripped with disgust.
"Anything more than that is a waste."
That night, she had sat curled up in the dark.
Trembling.
Crying quietly so no one would hear.
And with shaking hands—
She had tried to recreate it.
That same little music box from her childhood.
That same ballerina.
That same dream of freedom.
Water gathered weakly in her palm.
It formed—
But only barely.
The shape was unstable.
Wobbly.
Fragile.
Then—
It collapsed.
Falling apart in seconds.
All that remained was a pathetic little puddle on the floor.
And Azura had stared at it—
As if watching the last beautiful part of herself disappear.
In the present—
Azura moved.
The water around her shifted, no longer acting like a simple barrier. It flowed like living waves, dancing through the air with graceful precision.
She watched Arlo carefully.
Counted the rhythm of his attacks before they were even released.
Each compressed bullet of wind met rotating currents of water, and every time her reverse-flowing streams weakened them just enough to throw them off course.
Arthur kept firing from below.
This time, Azura guided the bullets.
One rubber round curved through the shifting air and struck Arlo in the shoulder.
"Ghk—!"
Pain flashed across his face.
His concentration broke for a single second.
That was all Azura needed.
"Geyser!"
A blast of pressurized water launched her upward.
She rose to meet him, creating small floating bubbles beneath her feet and stepping across them like stones suspended in the sky.
"Arlo!"
Her voice shook, but she forced it out.
"I need you to snap out of it!"
She reached toward him.
"Please!"
Arlo's eyes were bloodshot, black tears still running down his face.
The wind around him twisted violently.
"I'm doing this for you!"
His voice cracked.
"So don't get in my way!"
He clenched his fists.
"I'll kill that worthless human…"
The air distorted harder around him.
"…and then I'll keep you safe."
Azura's expression twisted in pain.
"For me?"
She stared at him in disbelief.
"I never asked you to do this!"
Her voice rose.
"I don't want this!"
Arlo trembled, the curse of Miserable September dragging uglier thoughts out of him with every passing second.
"You're not thinking straight!"
He shouted it like an accusation.
"Then again, you never do!"
The words came out harsher than he meant them to—
But he couldn't stop.
Not anymore.
"Even that night…"
His face tightened.
"The night we were captured…"
His breathing turned ragged.
"If you had just hidden better…"
A pause.
"If you'd stayed quiet instead of crying…"
His voice cracked.
"…we might not have gotten caught."
The moment the words left his mouth—
Azura froze.
Because she knew—
That wasn't truly what her brother wanted to say.
It was the artifact.
Twisting pain.
Dragging out blame.
Turning fear into cruelty.
Azura didn't look away.
Even after hearing those words—
She didn't flinch.
"You're right."
Her voice was quiet.
Steady.
Arlo froze.
"Maybe if I hadn't cried that night…"
She took a step forward, water forming beneath her feet.
"…they wouldn't have found us."
Another step.
She began running across the sky, each step supported by flowing platforms of water that formed and dissolved beneath her.
"Maybe we would've been safe."
Her eyes softened.
Her hand clenched slightly.
"I ended up endangering you, both of us."
The water around her surged.
So this time—
Her gaze sharpened.
"Let me save you, this time I'll keep you safe, both of us!"
"Whirlpool!"
A massive spinning vortex of water formed in her hands and was hurled toward Arlo.
It roared through the air.
Violent.
Unstable.
Arlo reacted instantly.
The wind around him twisted sharply, reversing the rotation of the attack just like Azura had done earlier.
The whirlpool destabilized—
Collapsed—
Dispersed.
Arthur watched from below, arms folded.
"The only thing standing in your way…"
He smiled slightly.
"…is yourself."
His voice carried upward.
"So show us what you've got, Azura."
A small pause.
"The stage is yours."
His glasses glinted.
"Take the spotlight."
Azura inhaled.
Then raised her hand.
"Sea Dragon."
Water gathered.
Condensed.
Took shape.
A massive dragon formed above her, its body made entirely of swirling ocean currents. It wasn't as overwhelming as River's Leviathan—
But it was still powerful.
Still beautiful.
Still hers.
The dragon roared—
And dove.
"Sky Control!"
Arlo braced himself as the space around him hardened into a defensive barrier.
The air thickened.
Solidified.
Reinforced.
But—
The dragon crashed into it.
The pressure alone caused the barrier to strain, cracks forming across its surface as the water continued to push forward relentlessly.
Arlo grit his teeth.
"…Too much."
He reacted instantly.
A powerful gust of wind exploded outward, forcing his body to the side.
The barrier shattered—
Just as the dragon tore through the space he had occupied.
But he wasn't completely unharmed.
The edge of the attack caught his leg.
"—Ghk!"
The impact shredded part of it, sending him crashing down through the air.
He landed roughly, one knee hitting the ground as blood spread across the cracked earth.
Above him—
Azura hovered.
Breathing heavily.
Eyes locked onto him.
No hesitation left.
Only resolve.
Azura dove.
Before Arlo could recover, she landed on top of him and pinned him down with all the strength she had left.
"Finish him," Arthur said with a chuckle.
Azura looked down at her brother, tears still in her eyes.
"When you wake up…"
Her voice trembled softly.
"I hope you'll be back to your senses."
Then she drew back her fist—
And punched him hard across the jaw.
Arlo's body went limp instantly.
He was out cold.
The two air barriers around them flickered.
Then shattered.
Azura slowly pushed herself upright—
Only for her exhausted legs to give out beneath her.
Arthur caught her before she hit the ground.
"Easy there," he muttered.
He lowered her gently to the floor.
"Sleep well," he muttered.
Then his eyes shifted.
Toward Roe and Friedrich.
Both of them looked terrible.
Broken.
Bleeding.
Barely able to stand.
Arthur let out a quiet sigh.
"Metallica — Harvester of Sorrow."
Black sand gathered in his hand and formed a shotgun.
He raised it casually—
And pointed it at Roe's head.
"Run along, deer."
Arthur's smile was light, but his eyes were not.
"Scamper back to your woods…"
A pause.
"…unless you want to end up like Bambi's mom."
Roe blinked.
"…Who's Bambi?"
Arthur's expression flattened.
"Just leave before I put a bullet in your head."
Roe, too injured and too tired to argue, stumbled backward.
Then turned—
And limped away into the night.
The moment he was gone, Friedrich finally collapsed to one knee.
Then all the way to the ground.
Completely spent.
Arthur looked around.
Azura was down.
Arlo was unconscious.
Friedrich could barely move.
Which meant—
He was the only one left who could still fight.
"…Great."
He adjusted his glasses and started toward the restaurant.
Toward wherever Elric had gone.
Then—
DING
The sound rang out.
Soft.
Beautiful.
Wrong.
The bell of Miserable September echoed through the air.
Through Arthur's ears.
Through everyone's ears.
His eyes widened.
"…No—"
Then darkness took him.
Arthur collapsed to the ground.
And all around them—
So did everyone else.