Horse hooves frantically galloped through the woodlands around Gorinville as James and his two remaining escort knights fled the capital. The clouds offered no light to guide their way which meant they were running blind through the twisting trails. A faint orange-yellow glow from their lanterns was the only light that couldn't even penetrate the first layer of trees that threateningly leaned over them with their canopies.

  "Keep going!" one of the knights cried out as they followed the twisting trail and he looked back over his shoulder. "We've almost lost her!" Some distance behind them, a faint white light danced after them, carried on the wind that compelled it forward.

  "Tch!" James clicked his tongue in frustration and his hands gripped even tighter on his horse's reins. His eyes did their best to pierce the oppressive darkness that suffocated them for a way to lose the pursuing Olivia. "Ride faster! We can-?" Something in the dark caught James' eye: a looming shape that rose even above the trees. "Cut the lanterns!"

  "What!?" one of the knights asked, astonished at the suggestion since they could barely see as is.

  "Do it and follow me!" James snuffed out the light of his lantern and veered his horse off the trail. Skeptically, his knights followed suit and James led his escorts down a trail that looked like it hadn't been traveled on in decades, yet the clacking of hooves on cobblestone paving let them know they were going in the right direction. Eventually, the group came upon a crumbling stone building that was being overtaken by nature: moss covered the cobbled walls, vines snaked their way up and into the shattered windows, and what was once a clearing around the building was completely overtaken with trees. "Inside!" A flight of stone stairs sat at the entrance of two massive wooden doors that were left open and allowed the forest to intrude inside. James and his knights dismounted and led their horses inside.

  "What…is this place?" The building was massive and the hall the three found themselves in rivaled even the imperial palace's entrance hall. Most of the roof had caved in and its debris was scattered across much of the floor, but a path was still accessible to go deeper into the building.

  "…Let's move away from the entrance," James ordered and the group tied their horses to various debris near the door so they could explore their temporary shelter. Underneath the fallen sections of the roof, wooden pews lined the central aisle and all faced the same direction. Windows, once depicting brilliant works of glass art, were mostly shattered and unrecognizable as the wind howled through their jagged remains along the walls. At the head of the lines of pews was a large, open circular area with stone statues standing in alcoves in the four cardinal directions. "This is…" As James drew closer and started examining the statues, he realized where they were. "The old cathedral to Zulm!?" To the north was depicted a mountain made of clouds with rivers of lightning snaking down its peaks. To the south was depicted a cloaked figure huddled around a campfire with plumes of smoke wrapping up and around them before melding into the cloak that covered them. To the east was depicted a skeleton holding a sword that pierced its own skull while sculpted rivers of 'blood' ran out its open mouth and down its bones. To the west was depicted an eldritch building, a skyscraper similar to the wizard's tower, but in an architectural style that James didn't recognize. And in the center, along the floor of the circular room, was depicted a massive eye whose pupil was an unknowable obelisk, and was surrounded by the unknowable language of the gods.

  "H-How did we end up here!?" The language of the gods seemed to churn and shift under their feet whenever they looked at it.

  The second knight took a few steps away from the center of the room and stuttered out, "E-Even if we're being ch-chased, we shouldn't be here! We-!?" As she turned to leave, a softly glowing white flower petal fluttered in front of their face.

  "Get back!" the first knight cried and he moved to stick close to James as he watched his companion's head be severed from her shoulders.

  "…" Olivia extinguished her flower petals and vanished into the darkness.

  "!?!" James and his last remaining knight both lit their lanterns, yet their glow barely reached the statues that looked down at them. The darkness was unrelenting in its attempts to smother their last light.

  "Olivia!?!" James shouted into the dark as his eyes darted around the room while his hand fiddled with the pouch clasped to his belt. "Show yourself!" A pebble broke against the floor. Ancient wood groaned under the stones that crushed it. Gusts of wind wailed through the broken windows. "Olivia Ordrin!?!"

  "…" The darkness didn't answer.

  "…My Prince," his escort whispered under his breath while keeping his eyes peeled for any kind of movement. "We must return to the horses."

  "It's too late for that!" James barked as he took out a vial with pale blue liquid inside. "If we don't take care of her here, she'll-" While James was distracted, something moved at the edge of the light.

  "My Prince, mo-!?!" The knight shoved James out of the way as Olivia broke out of the darkness with the tip of her sword trained at James' heart.

  "!?!" James stumbled and turned to see Olivia's aura-wrapped sword plunge through the knight's plate armor and out his back.

  "…Tch," Olivia clicked her tongue in annoyance and pulled her sword out of the knight's corpse; white flower petals fluttering around her in a mesmerizing dance. Flipping her blade around, Olivia spun into a horizontal slash aimed at James' neck.

  "!?!" James downed the elixir in his hand, raised his sword, and blocked Olivia's strike as a rainbow of sound echoed off his sword to pummel the flower petals that danced in the air. He grit his teeth, dug in his heels, and used his aura to deflect Olivia's strike away. The blocked strike left speckles of blood off Olivia's blade on James' pristine white and gold uniform.

  "…" Olivia jumped backward to recompose her form and steadied her blade. The darkness clung to her black and red Hellhound uniform making her pure white hair and blue eyes shimmer in the lantern light. While her blade remained positioned to strike, Olivia slowly started shuffling to her right.

  "…" James matched Olivia's movements and started shuffling to his right while holding his sword out in front of him. The two combatants slowly circled around the mural of Zulm's eye while glaring at each other. Tense moments ticked by while slow footfalls echoed around the broken building. Glowing white lilies sprouted from every step Olivia took while low, threatening musical notes loomed after James as he continued his steady march. "…Now," James muttered in disgust, "I can finally-!?" Interrupting his monologue, the clouds above the capital rapidly retreated across the sky and allowed Sailest's light to illuminate the world in its gentle purple glow. The old cathedral ruins were fully illuminated as Sailest stared down at the two humans. "…Huh?" And James felt the aura leave his body as the meteor's powers were extinguished from Pianeta.

  "…" Olivia stopped circling and took on a more relaxed stance as whatever danger James could have posed against her was now gone.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "Don't you dare…" But instead of collapsing to his knees, or being so stunned to not act, James tightened his grip on his sword. "Think this is over!" James roared and charged Olivia. With his sword held high, James attacked with a vertical downward slash aimed at Olivia's head.

  "…" Olivia didn't even attempt to dodge or block the attack as she knew it couldn't touch her.

  "Ggh!?!" James recoiled as his blade harmlessly deflected off Olivia's aura armor. She remained unfazed. "Never…I'll never submit to you!" A horizontal slash at Olivia's neck was deflected away. "How dare you look down on me!" A thrust was bounced back and made James stumble. "Just because those monsters chose you!? Because you're fine with humanity on their leash!?" James' sword shattered against Olivia's arm, so he tossed his broken sword aside, picked up his fallen escort knight's longsword, and charged. "I refuse! Humanity's future, our future, belongs to humanity!" The sword shattered as Olivia idly batted it away with her sword. "It belongs to me!" James kept hold of the broken blade and raised it in the air for another strike. "And I…"

  "…Mm?" A golden flicker caught Olivia's eye from James' raised sword and her instincts screamed at her to block.

  "Refuse to fall!" James' sword came crashing down onto Olivia's with unprecedented force and exploded in a golden light.

  "Ggh!?!" Olivia was sent skidding back to not be crushed by the force. When she regained herself, she couldn't believe what appeared in front of her.

  "…Ha…Haha!" James looked down at his broken blade and started laughing. From the broken edge, the blade reformed its full length with a golden aura. Wisps of golden hair wafted around James like the majestic mane of a lion and commanded the darkness to recede from its brilliance. "Look! Look how fickle the so-called gods are!" James shouted while bringing his blade up to a ready stance. "No one, not even you, is safe from their whims! They aren't fit to be masters of mankind!" Power coursed across James with seemingly no end. "That right…belongs to me!"

  (!!!BOSS BATTLE!!!)

  (James Arlexton, The Unrelenting Lion of Arlexia)

  (HP: 1,000/1,000)

  "Are you kidding me!?" Olivia angrily muttered through clenched teeth as she glared at the semi-transparent pink square that hovered above James' head. "…?" A strange, feminine laughter crawled into Olivia's ears and drew her gaze to the statue that James stopped in front of. It was the skeleton with the sword through its head, the statue of Lady Muz.

  "!!!" The skeleton laughed at her.

  "…" Sailest silently watched from the sky.

  "…What petty gods," Olivia spat and readied herself for a real fight. "Fine, you want to make this a boss fight?" Boss fights were meant to be beaten by players, and the fact the system called it out as one meant this situation was no different. This wasn't Muz trying to kill Olivia, it was Muz wanting to spice things up to negate too boring of an ending. Olivia's blade glowed a beautiful white as her flower petals wrapped around it. "Like hell I'll lose after coming this far!"

  "Enough talk!" James' mind acted on pure instinct to use his aura and he jumped ten meters in the air. "Fall!" Like a missile, James descended and crashed into Olivia on a burning trail of golden light.

  "!?!" Olivia blocked and deflected the strike to the ground, but the impact of James' sword shattered the floor and sent out an explosive shockwave that threw Olivia backward. Digging her blade into the stone floor, Olivia skid to a stop and lunged forward. White flower petals coalesced and formed a wave that followed the horizontal slash she threw against James.

  "…!" Focusing his aura into his arm, the golden mane intensified and bashed against the wave of white. Flower petals burst and filled the air as James' aura shifted and took on the form of an imposing lion that hovered behind him. Bringing his sword back for a devastating strike, the aura lion moved and followed James' blade as it opened its maw to bite Olivia.

  "!!!" When their blades clashed, the aura lion bit down on Olivia's arm and pierced her aura armor. Pain shot up through her arm and screamed in her brain, forcing Olivia to use her more refined swordplay to deflect and force James to stumble and hesitate. Taking advantage of the opening, Olivia thrust her sword through and broke the aura lion's teeth that bit down on her, and she pried the ethereal beast off her arm.

  "You-!?!" James went to taunt but found Olivia's cold eyes glaring death's daggers into him as she brought her sword down hard against his. With the aura lion temporarily stunned, Olivia pressed her attack and started a flurry of rapid strikes to keep James off balance and whittle through his aura as fast as she could. Her blade would find its mark and slice into James' aura armor, leaving ever-growing gaps in his defense. "HA!!!" But James breathed in and screamed a defiant roar that blew Olivia's flower petals away and left her open for a swift kick to her stomach.

  "…!?" Olivia was sent sprawling away, but forced herself to stay in control through the pain in her stomach and quickly stood up.

  (James Arlexton, The Unrelenting Lion of Arlexia)

  (HP: 767/1,000)

  "…" The 'HP' was a combination of both James' physical Health and the aura that protected him. Breaking the lion's teeth was a big blow and all the cuts in the aura armor would eventually add up, but it wasn't fast enough. If the fight kept going, that only gave James more time to get used to his new aura and would just make him more dangerous to deal with. It was a timed fight. "Fine, then." Olivia held her blade up to her face in a composed salute and a field of white lilies sprouted around Olivia that started to softly blow in the wind.

  (Aura Limit Break: Scarlet Equinox)

  (Receive damage equaling 50% of your current Health and convert the damage taken into Aura flowers around the Aurister. The next offensive Aura Skill used will consume all Aura flowers while multiplying the skill's damage by an amount based on the initial damage taken by the Limit Break. You will be unable to heal any damage taken for the next minute and all enemies hit will be aggroed onto you.)

  "!!!" Blood erupted out of the bite wound on Olivia's arm and watered the lilies that happily lapped up their crimson drink. Pain tore through her body as her blood was boiling in her veins and she felt the blood vessels in her eyes start to burst. And as Olivia stood tall, having gone through much worse during Muz's challenge back in Solfin, the field around her exploded into bloom as glowing red lycoris radiatas.

  "…" James spat off to the side, raised his left hand into the air, and clenched his fist causing his aura to pulse in a brilliant light. The aura lion's teeth reformed and the lion gave a defiant roar that reverberated across the cathedral.

  "…" Olivia took a deep breath to focus herself and matched James' glare. Raising her sword into the air, the lycoris radiata danced in kind and sent their petals fluttering up to bathe the battlefield in a scarlet light as they formed around Olivia's blade.

  "Die!" James shouted and pounced toward Olivia with blinding speed. The golden aura lion bounded through the field of flowers that sliced at its feet without a care as it charged its prey. "Olivia!"

  "!!!" Olivia brought down her sword in a vertical slash through the air that sent a tidal wave of red flower petals erupting out of her blade and flooding across the cathedral. The red wave flowed over the pews and crashed against the walls and piles of debris like ocean waves against rocky cliffs. As the petals eventually scattered and dissolved away, the world calmed down, though the petals that still danced around Olivia remained a scarlet red. As Olivia opened her eyes, she was struck with horror as James still stood before her.

  "…" James was silently standing, hunched over the blade that he was using as a crutch, only a few feet away from Olivia. The aura lion was nowhere to be seen and the aura armor around James looked like a tattered cloak that was barely hanging on as it fluttered in the breeze. Blood dripped down his arms and legs, though Olivia couldn't see his face.

  (James Arlexton, The Unrelenting Lion of Arlexia)

  (HP: 143/1,000)

  "…" But his HP was still too high. Olivia grit her teeth and spat some blood that was pooling in her mouth off to the side as she lifted her sword to continue the fight. While her Limit Break was powerful, it came at a great cost and Olivia was feeling light-headed from the rapid blood loss. She took a shaky step toward James.

  "…I," James' voice came out as a whisper on the wind as his body was in a state of shock from the immense pain. Long cuts along his body actively bled and he couldn't see out of his left eye as one of Olivia's red petals had sliced through it. "…Refuse…"

  "…?" Olivia flinched as a semi-transparent pink square appeared in front of her.

  "I-!?!"

  (!!!PHASE CHANGE!!!)

  (James' Max HP Up: 1,000 -> 5,000)

  (James' Aura: Replenishing)

  (Jam-)

  "Fuck your second phase!" Olivia didn't bother reading the rest of the announcement, poured what remained of her aura into her legs, and lunged at James before he could heal.

  "!?!" James gasped as Olivia's blade was plunged into his chest and directly through his heart. Before he could properly retaliate, Olivia flooded the wound with her scarlet flower petals. Razor-sharp petals of aura sliced and danced through James' internal organs like a blender as Olivia tackled James to the ground. As her blade tapped against the broken stone floor and James' body slid down her blade to the ground, a new message box appeared.

  (James Arlexton, The Unrelenting Lion of Arlexia)

  (HP: 0/5,000)

  (!!!CLEAR!!!)

  "…Finally." Olivia stared down at James' corpse beneath her and looked into his dead, vacant eyes that stared back. There was no resistance from his chest as Olivia kneeled on top of him since his bones and organs had been ground into a paste that was oozing out of the various wounds across his body. The world around her was quiet.

  "…" The skeleton was silent in its alcove.

  "…" Sailest was silent in its sky.

  "…" Olivia was silent as she stood up on trembling legs and almost passed out from light-headedness from rising too fast. Her breaths were haggard and the wound on her arm still oozed blood, but she was alive. Staring up into the night sky, basking in Sailest's light, Olivia was alive. Turning away from James' corpse, Olivia didn't have the strength to pick it up and carry it over to her horse so she would tell the others where it was and have them retrieve it later; she was far too tired. Too tired and wanting nothing more than a nice bath and comfortable bed back home in Lucina's arms. But as she stumbled back toward the entrance and her waiting horse, Olivia paused in front of the statue to Alm.

  "…" The cloaked statue stared back at Olivia.

  "…It's done." Olivia lowered her head and gave a soft prayer, "I hope…in your next life…you live a happy life, Beatrice." After standing in silence for a few seconds, Olivia continued her march out of the cathedral.

  "…" Unseen and unknown by Olivia, a wisp of green light whose ghostly trail was the colors of a sunset fluttered out of the stone campfire at the base of Alm's statue. It was faint, having gone through much suffering, but the Hearth Mother still sent it out for one last time. The wisp was carried by a gentle wind over to Olivia and it disappeared into her lower back so it could take root. A prayer answered.