The dark-red tide was endless.
And so, the flames flickering within it appeared all the more radiant.
Though small before the sea, they stood their ground, holding fast with their own strength.
Wreckage rained from the sky, piling into thick layers across the ground.
There was no rebirth. No proliferation.
The power within them that once allowed infinite replication had been cut away—severed by those figures burning with white flame.
Thus, they fell easily.
And there was another reason…
"Their power's weakened," Mitsutake lowered her weapon, gazing at the carpet of corpses. She spoke aloud the truth.
These bodies were the new generation of Propagation's brood, descended with their newborn AEON.
Before, those replicas had withstood even the fire of Nihility burning within them.
That fire, able to scorch life into ash, had only clung to them endlessly, never consuming.
At that time, the replicas had been nearly indestructible—lacking only flight, otherwise invulnerable.
But now, they fell with ease.
Not only because the Iron Cavalry had gained new power—
But because the power within the replicas themselves was failing.
"Yes. I feel it too." Shunji, who had been here since the beginning, felt it most sharply.
Their attacks, their strength—their numbers had dwindled.
She had fought since the first clash, her body exhausted. Even with new power filling her, she should have been crushed beneath the tide.
But instead—she found breathing room.
Even with the swarm covering the entire planet, she could rest between strikes.
"That means…" Unkyō raised her gaze toward the distant horizon.
From there, waves of energy burst outward, each pulse chilling the heart.
Fragments of planets drifting too near were shattered instantly, reduced to dust.
That was another battlefield.
The battlefield of a god—and the one who defied god.
Their task was to prevent anything else from disturbing that clash.
But now, it seemed that battle was already bleeding into this one.
The replicas' replication faltered. Yet their heartbeat—wild, thunderous—still echoed.
The contrast was too stark. Even a child could understand what it meant.
"The fight there… is it reaching its end?"
The Iron Cavalry realized it with blank minds.
They had come here expecting death.
But this—this was never in their imagination.
Hoshigaki Sora—fighting with his own strength—was close to defeating a newborn AEON.
If this were told, the cosmos would shake.
For an AEON was an AEON. An untouchable being.
And yet, here was a man, clashing blow for blow, and perhaps… winning.
Most of all—
He was fighting for them.
They, born of Propagation's power, had accepted their fate: that when the new AEON rose, they too would be bound into servitude.
It was inevitable. AEON power could not be resisted.
Their one desire had been only to save their lone companion from that fate.
So they had chosen to burn themselves, to feed Chaos Doctors their fire of Nihility, to give others strength.
And yet, someone had broken those chains.
"If he really defeats Propagation… then maybe we'll be free."
Truly free. With no sword forever hanging above their necks.
At those words, all fell silent.
So close. They had never realized how close they stood to their dream.
And now, all that remained—was him.
Our friend.
On the battlefield of god and man, the end was close.
...
Sora and Titanironia's figures crossed, their blades and bodies sparking iron and tearing flesh.
White fire clung to her body.
Yet her strikes never ceased.
She fought like one with nothing to lose, embodying her creed.
She would defeat Sora.
There was nothing else.
Here, only primal motion remained.
Slaughter.
Kill him, and his beliefs would dissolve into nothing.
Words had ended long ago. Their creeds were steel, unbending.
Neither could sway the other.
So they threw in their lives, their faith, their all.
From her eyes, Sora saw this truth:
Here, there was no right or wrong.
Only difference of ideals.
He fought for: All walking together, even in difference, toward a better future.
She fought for: Endless division, filling the cosmos with herself, erasing betrayal in a peace of one.
Creeds irreconcilable.
Thus—they could only find their answer in the clash of blades.
Though perhaps…
The answer was already here.
Sora and the Iron Cavalry were dust before the vastness of this planet.
And yet, together, they endured Titanironia's armies.
The balance had shifted the moment she failed to destroy them.
More so when Sora, a mortal, stood against her power—and gained a blade forged of bonds.
Now, with that blade, he would judge the god who sought to strip away their freedom.
"If you fall into darkness… who will pull you out?"
His words echoed the truth: Titanironia, god though she was, stood alone.
[I am all things. I am everything. If I exist, then all stand beside me.]
"Is that so?"
Sora's eyes locked with hers.
Both stood battered.
Pain gnawed his nerves—her reckless assault had carved into him.
But her body was covered in fine white scars, fire gnawing at her divine form.
"I won't lose."
He straightened. "Because behind me burns their light."
He joined, drew out the [Firefly Sword] once more.
'[FIREFLY SWORD VICTORY!]'
White fire burst forth, painting the heavens like a canvas.
On that canvas, black lines etched his figure like ink strokes.
"This is the end…"
All gathered into his blade.
[I will not forget you.]
Titanironia felt it. She admired his resolve, but not his creed.
[And I will hold mine until the last.]
She had accepted truth.
Even if her path ended in darkness, her existence had to prove its worth.
So she would fight to the end.
[As you said. This is the end.]
She charged, unleashing all.
Claws sharp enough to pierce Qlipoth's walls, acids to dissolve worlds, entropy flames learned from Entropy Loss, [Heavy Acceleration] stolen from him—
Every card, every weapon.
Her form flickered between real and not, entropy flux smearing her edges.
Her body scattered across the galaxy, information itself, though she still stood before him.
Every insectile trait turned weapon. Every edge aimed at him.
This was all her strength, given as final rite.
Sora did not flinch.
He twisted the booster hilt.
VMMM—!
'[BOOST STRIKE!]'
Flame roared. The sky turned toward him.
And all saw it.
Even Robin, drifting in a powerless ship, looked out the glass.
A new star bloomed in the galaxy.
"…What… is that?"
She pressed close, staring.
The star grew brighter, closer.
"A meteor?" she guessed, then dismissed it.
For its form was clear now.
A blade.
A blade of white-gold fire, stretching outward without end.
She gaped.
Impossible.
"Don't tell me… from Sora's side?"
The thought was absurd. He was light-years away.
And yet, she could not shake it.
She shook her head, retreating, choosing to wait.
On the battlefield, flame surged from the hilt.
The [Firefly Sword] lengthened, forged of feeling, endless.
His senses spread, vast, brushing against the rhythm of entropy itself.
"Increasing and decreasing entropy… I can feel it."
His head throbbed from the flood of data, but he endured.
It was mostly void, after all. Not too heavy.
And in that void, he found it.
"…I've found you."
He swung.
SHIING!
The galaxy lit as if a supernova had exploded.
On Straton III, people saw it—a perfect white moon blazing in the galaxy, shining for a heartbeat.
Then a strange wave rippled across the cosmos.
Every follower of a Path froze, meeting one another's eyes.
"…What… was that?"