My Regalia freed me from the chains of all laws while the mark within me burned.
It burned with relentless will, a raw force that kept me standing against impossible odds.
Together, they forged a path toward defiance, a stubborn refusal to yield before any foe.
Yet as our blades met again and again, I no longer cared for victory or reason.
All that mattered was the rhythm of the clash, the raw pulse of existence that lived in each strike.
The world dissolved into nothing. There was no sky, no ground, only the storm between us.
Our inner worlds collided alongside steel, chaos consuming chaos in a storm beyond comprehension.
My heart stuttered with every blow, trembling and weak, but Uhana clung to me like breath itself.
Her Regalia pulsed against my chest, its light flickering like a desperate heartbeat that refused to fade.
She poured her essence into me, a sacred river of strength flowing into a vessel already cracking.
In return, I gave her everything I still possessed, channeling every faint spark of life through my sword.
The battle was no longer about strength or magic. It had become a test of endurance, a raw contest of will and instinct between beings who had long forgotten what it meant to stop.
His power lay in ruins, his realm torn apart by my hand.
I was hollow, fragile, barely holding together, yet like a wounded bird clawing at the sky, I still fought to remain upright.
Even as the fight slipped from my control, I sought meaning in every fleeting motion, in every flicker of defiance that refused to die.
His blade cut toward my heart with perfect precision.
At the last moment, towering pillars of wood erupted from the earth, their divine resilience shielding me.
I leapt backward, laying Uhana gently across my legs as the cold edge of his blade grazed my chest.
Sliding across the frozen ground, I kicked upward, and Uhana spun around me with fierce grace. Her arms steadied my shoulders as our blades met once more in a deadly dance.
The impact sent me flying, but she caught me, our bond the fragile thread that kept us from breaking apart entirely.
Then, pushing beyond every limit my body could bear, I lunged forward with a surge born not from power, but from refusal.
My blade pierced his chest, and a burst of energy erupted, bright and brief, like a dying star collapsing into itself.
The world fractured. His form became hollow, translucent, a shadow unraveling into silence.
In that fleeting instant, understanding dawned. The barrier he wielded bent space and time, consuming everything caught within it.
Yet even that was not absolute. It could be broken.
Pain tore through my gut, sharp and merciless. Uhana's grip tightened, her trembling fingers grounding me to what little life remained.
He moved faster than thought, his expression twisted in quiet cruelty. "Nothing lasts forever."
His strikes came endless and simultaneous, piercing me from every direction. Time itself became meaningless.
Uhana's strength faltered, her breathing shallow as the storm swallowed us whole.
I could not lose what I carried. The memories, the faces, the faint traces of everything I once was.
With my remaining strength, I poured them into her. Silent promises, fragments of who I had been, carried into her soul like whispers in the dark.
Through the pain, through the fading light, I smiled when I felt her release me.
"Do not fail, my queen," I murmured, the words trembling from my lips.
Zehliah's blade shattered mine like glass, cutting across my chest, tearing through body and spirit alike. Uhana's voice broke into a cry. "I will not."
He turned toward her next, but that was his final mistake. This world, merciless and ancient, was bound by truths that even gods could not escape.
I had studied those truths in silence, learning from the hidden echoes of the Silent Court.
I had hoped they would save me, that they would grant me freedom.
But in that moment, none of it mattered. I had gone beyond fear, beyond the limits of knowledge.
Only one thing remained: the will to give everything, to burn everything, for a single act that could never be undone.
I let go of everything I was. Power, life, and memory flowed outward like a flood meeting its end.
"I am sorry, Ormuth," I whispered, my voice fragile. "I could not free you."
Uhana's eyes met mine, wide with anguish. Her scream tore through the silence like glass breaking under divine pressure. "Rosen, do not!"
I answered her not with fear, but with calm acceptance, a quiet peace that came when there was nothing left to lose.
Time fractured. Motion ceased. Breath and heartbeat froze as the world sank into a silence so deep it devoured sound itself.
From that stillness, a prison of pure infons formed, its cold, eternal chains binding Zehliah and me together.
Within that void, destruction bloomed like the end of creation, erasing body, soul, and every whisper of what once existed.
And in that last, hollow instant, I became nothing more than a fading echo in the endless dark.
[Uhana Vernasta.]
Tears poured endlessly, spilling from a soul too shattered to hold them back.
I could not see him anymore. Not his face, not that strange smile balanced between arrogance and sincerity, not even the color of his eyes.
No, it was worse than blindness. It was as though the very memory of him had been stolen from me.
That was it. He had erased the last piece of himself I still held.
That bastard, broken and proud, had taken from me the one thing I could never reclaim.
Was it mercy? Was it pride? Or simply a selfish wish—to be remembered by no one, to fade in solitude.
It was unbearable, that final cruelty, erasing even the faintest shadow of him from my mind until only emptiness remained.
Then his sword appeared in my hands, its surface gleaming with sorrow, carrying a faint light that trembled like mourning.
From deep within me, wings burst forth, tearing through flesh and spirit alike. Pain and longing filled the air, and their cries echoed his memory.
His thoughts flooded through me—his dreams, his fears, his fragile hopes—all merging into my heart like a river overflowing its banks.
For the first time, I saw the world he had believed in, the truth he had fought for.
And all I could do was weep. Not for him alone, but for everything that should have been.
"This was your plan?" I whispered. "To live on through me?"
My lips moved on their own, the words ancient and inevitable. They had waited across time for this moment.
"Rosen… you are gone."
The truth broke through me like lightning, cutting through denial and sorrow until all that was left was acceptance.
The tears stopped. Silence settled like dust after a storm.
How cruel it was that I could not even mourn him. Perhaps I was no longer human enough to grieve.
I rose to my feet as the wings began to fade, their light dimming into faint embers.
From that silence, something unfamiliar awakened within me. Something both powerful and unwanted.
How annoying.