"Guh… Aaaaah!" Miranda wailed, staggering back, spitting blood in agony.
"My daughter… my Eva!" she cried, calcifying and crumbling. The mold roots followed, revealing a blue sky—dawn had come. In her place, Rose wailed, unharmed.
"Rose…!"
"Ethan, no more recklessness!" Evelyn warned.
"When else would I push?"
Slashed and battered, I rushed to Rose, lifting her. No injuries, no scars—relief.
"Shh, it's okay, Rose…"
"Peekaboo! Big sis is here!" Evelyn cooed.
Her play calmed Rose, but my limit hit—my right arm calcified, crumbling. I collapsed. Damn it, I need to get Rose out…
"Ethan! What do we do? I can't touch her!" Evelyn panicked.
"Ethan!" Chris arrived, trying to lift me, but I couldn't move.
"Chris! Thank goodness!" Evelyn exclaimed.
"Get up, Ethan!" Chris urged.
"I'm awake… but no strength left…"
"Bad news. Mold's still active!" Chris pointed to writhing roots forming a giant fetal shape.
"We beat Miranda!" I protested.
"You did, but I'm in the same boat…"
"Keep going, Ethan! You made it this far!" Evelyn pleaded.
"Escape, Ethan. Come on," Chris said, supporting me, Rose in my left arm. We moved, the fetal mold closing in.
"Don't stop! There's a bomb to blow the village!" Chris showed a switch at the bridge.
"Detonate now, we're done. Hold on, Mia's waiting!"
"Mia's alive!?" Evelyn gasped.
"She's fine!" Chris confirmed.
"Mia… forgive me… I love you… take care of Rose…"
"No, Ethan!" Evelyn cried.
"Stand up!" Chris shouted.
Chris caught me as I stumbled, and I handed Rose to him. My hands wouldn't last…
"Tell her yourself! Almost there!" Chris insisted.
"Protect her… make her strong…"
I shed my coat, covering Rose against the cold morning air. As mold closed in, I pushed Chris away, snatching the switch.
"Damn it, Ethan!" Chris cursed.
"Stay safe, Rosemary."
"Use the healing fluid!" Evelyn urged.
I staggered toward the mold, grabbing a vial with my left hand, pouring it on my right. Mold surged, forming Molded Gigant. Chris hesitated, still there.
"I'll hold it here. Go, Chris. I'm a monster—better gone."
"That's me," Evelyn said.
"What…?"
She threw me to Chris, who caught me. Molded Gigant—Evelyn—grinned.
"Fusion let me move alone. I slowed your decay with the fluid. You've got time to say goodbye to Mama. If I vanish, you might last longer."
"Wait, Evelyn!" I begged.
"Evelyn?" Chris echoed.
"If I stay, you, Rose, everyone dies. But not today, right? My first and last act of filial piety. Thanks for calling me your daughter, Papa. A monster acts like one."
She leaped at the mold, ignoring my calls. Chris dragged me to a helicopter where Mia waited.
"Rose! Ethan! Chris… thank you!" Mia sobbed.
"No time for thanks! Take off, now!" Chris ordered.
"Mia, you're safe…" I said.
"You're not! Your body…" Mia gasped.
"It was for Rose. No regrets."
"You don't look happy…" Mia noted.
"You won't believe it, but another daughter… Evelyn saved me."
"She wasn't a hallucination," Mia admitted.
"What?"
In the rising chopper, Mia revealed, "I saw Evelyn watching movies with you. I couldn't believe it, so I pretended not to see."
"Mia, that Evelyn…"
"She's not the one who hurt us. She saved you and Rose, didn't she? She's gone for us?"
"Yeah. I wanted her to know you accepted her."
"Ethan…"
Chris spoke, eyeing the switch in my hand. "I get it, but end it yourself."
"If it's her wish," Mia added.
"Evelyn… you're my pride."
I pressed the switch, praying. A massive explosion swallowed the cursed village, shaking the chopper, but we ascended.
"Evelyn stayed to save us. A true benefactor," Chris said.
"Yeah…"
"Yep!" a voice chimed.
"Evelyn…?"
"Hey, Ethan, Mia, Rosemary. And Chris, who can't see me."
"What's happening?" Mia asked.
"She's here?" Chris said.
"Don't think I'm crazy, Chris. You're a good guy."
"I thought explosions don't affect me, so I came back. Sorry for the scare!" Evelyn laughed.
"You're safe—that's enough!"
"I heard you. Mia, you saw me? Harsh! Watching Dragon Knight together wasn't a fluke," Evelyn teased.
"You remembered!?" Mia gasped.
"It was our first family moment."
"No clue what's happening, but no sacrifices? Good. Explain Evelyn later," Chris said, heading to his team.
Watching Evelyn soothe Rose with Mia, I overheard Chris's team.
"Captain, BSAA sent B.O.W.s, not soldiers."
"What are they thinking?"
"Orders, Captain?"
"Ethan, Mia, sorry. Can't send you home yet. Gather the team—we're hitting BSAA Europe. They'll pay."
Evelyn and I nodded, calming Mia's worried look.
"Chris, I'm in," I said.
"But you…"
"I'm a B.O.W. too, right? They endangered Mia and Rose. As a father, I'll make them pay."
"Family time comes after some fist justice," Evelyn added, fist-bumping me.
No one hurts Rose or endangers Mia. They'll answer to us.
(Evelyn's separation powers fooled you, huh? Everyone except Heisenberg and villagers survives! Ethan's decay is slowed with fluid but still creeps. Epilogue next—Rose grown, what's in her eyes?)
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