Aurelia — or rather, the Outer that inhabited her — took a step back in disbelief when she saw the Moth Maiden.
"This isn't right. She wasn't supposed to appear until…"
Even she couldn't calculate what this deviation meant. The Moth Maiden struggled to lift her head. Her voice was rasp, desperate and uneven.
"Help… me. Please… I don't want to die… not like this..."
Her breath came out in clouds of smoke. The altar was silent except for the sound of her labored gasps. Hinesia, though cautious, approached her. She then turned her gaze toward the Pontifex Divina.
"She's the key, isn't she?"
One of the Pontifex — the tallest among them — inclined his head slowly.
"Yes. The alignment of fates is precise. She carries what must be transferred."
Hinesia's expression tightened. She crouched near the dying Moth Maiden, watching as pieces of her arms flaked away into black dust.
"You want to inhabit another body, don't you?"
The Moth Maiden's lips twisted into a faint smirk, even through her agony.
"You… know about Outers. Then you already know about me."
Hinesia exhaled slowly.
"You were killed in 1941 when you unleashed the Moscow Massacre. Your soul was trapped in the Northern Axis. You manifested yourself using fragments from the souls you slaughtered. The Russians built the seal that kept you alive, didn't they? So why escape your prison knowing your body couldn't hold?"
Her answer was barely audible.
"Because I… need you."
Even the Pontifex Divina stirred faintly at the words.
"You came all this way across the Axis to ask me to integrate with you? That's insane. If anything, letting you die here is better for everyone."
The Moth Maiden clawed at the ground. Her body convulsed violently. Black blood leaked from her eyes.
"Please… you don't understand. If I die, everything tied to me will collapse. The seals, the memory constructs, the souls I carry... they'll scatter. There'll be no salvation left for them. I'm... tired of being a monster."
The hall was deathly quiet.
Hinesia stared down at the once-great terror of the Second Dominia reduced to a broken figure begging on holy ground. The sight stirred something foreign inside her. In the MoDS storyline, the Moth Maiden was the nightmare of an entire nations. Millions died under her shadow. And yet here she was, begging.
The Pontifex Divina broke the silence.
"Princess Hinesia, integrate with her."
Hinesia's head snapped toward them.
"What?"
"The Deities have permitted it," said another. "The Goddess of Combat herself has spoken. The Erethis Chalice will remove the Empress's blessing only through a soul exchange. The souls bound within the Moth Maiden will be offered to the Chalice as divine payment."
The Moth Maiden looked up weakly at the Pontifex.
"And what… have your goddesses said of me?"
"They have agreed," replied the eldest Pontifex. "If you swear before them that you shall not harm your partner, Princess Hinesia, your crimes will be absolved. You will be given a second chance at existence."
For a long moment, the Moth Maiden said nothing. Then her shaking hand touched the temple floor as she whispered.
"I swear it."
Hinesia looked down at her in shock. She knew what this meant. Integration wasn't possession. It was fusion. Their souls, their minds, their flux would become one consciousness. There would be no undoing it. They would share one life, one body, one fate.
And yet, Hinesia smiled faintly. She extended her hand toward the fading woman.
"Fine. If I'm going to deal with you forever, I might as well make it worthwhile. Let's right your mistakes, Moth Maiden. Let's rebuild what you destroyed. You wanted revenge on Russia? Then you'll get it. Together."
The Moth Maiden blinked. She gave a broken laugh that melted into a cough of black smoke.
"You're insane. But… don't forget your promise, little Outer."
"I don't intend to."
Their hands met.
The moment Hinesia's hand met the Moth Maiden's, a shockwave rippled outward. The altar's glow dulled, swallowed by a spiraling darkness that gathered around both women. The Pontifex Divina did not move. Their white robes fluttered in the storm.
Then the dark mist rose.
It began at the Moth Maiden's fading form. They coiled around Hinesia, wrapping her in a cocoon of shadow. The sound was deafening, like a thousand whispers clawing at the inside of her skull. The sigils on the altar flickered between white and crimson. Hinesia's body lifted from the ground. Her feet dangled inches above the marble. The mist surged into her skin, forcing its way through every pore. The air crackled violently with Xana.
She screamed out of overwhelming agony. Two souls, two consciousnesses and two histories were being forced into one fragile vessel. Her veins glowed faintly violet streaked with shadows. The Moth Maiden's shape wrapped around her as their Xana intertwined.
The Pontifex began chanting in perfect unison.
"Lux et Umbra, Corpus et Anima, Concordia Divina."
(Light and shadow, body and soul, divine concord made whole.)
The Cathedral of Luminal Essence trembled. Braziers spilled their golden flames. The stained glass behind the statue of the Goddess of Combat fractured, sending beams of multicolored light piercing through the mist.
Aurelia shielded her eyes from the glare.
"Hinesia!"
She called out but her voice was drowned by the low hum that filled the sanctum. Out of the two emerged white spheres. They floated into the air like fireflies, illuminating the darkness. Each one pulsed faintly, releasing a soft, melodic sound. They drifted around the altar, spiraling slowly upward above the two women.
Hinesia finally fell down.
Her body collapsed onto the marble floor with a sharp exhale. She was trembling violently. Her skin glistened with sweat and faint traces of black mist that dissipated with every breath. Aurelia rushed forward, kneeling beside her.
"Hinesia!"
The princess coughed hard, clutching her chest as she forced air into her lungs. A trail of black blood dripped from her lips, then turned to vapor before it hit the ground. Her irises flickered from violet shifting to onyx and back to hazel again.
"I'm— I'm fine… I think."
Aurelia placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You were screaming for almost a minute straight. You—"
"I said I'm fine. She's… quiet now."
They both looked around. The altar was now covered in drifting white spheres like a sea of floating stars. They shimmered faintly against the high ceiling of the cathedral. The Pontifex Divina stepped closer. One of them raised a hand toward the lights and the spheres pulsed in response, as if acknowledging their authority.
"The souls imprisoned within the Moth Maiden's Flux are free."
Another Pontifex continued, "For nearly a century, she carried them within her. They are fragments of every victim she has killed. Their release marks the true purification of this ground."
Hinesia pushed herself to sit up, staring at the spheres as they circled the altar.
"So these… are all the lives she took."
"Yes. Each sphere is a person she bound to herself in despair and hatred. Now, they will return to the cycle of souls beyond the reach of flux."
Aurelia's Outer presence shifted subtly.
"And the Erethis Chalice?"
The lead Pontifex turned toward the statue towering above them. Beneath it, a stone basin emerged from the floor.
"We will use these souls as the payment required to invoke the Chalice. Through it, the blessing that binds your soul to eternity shall be undone."
As he spoke, the spheres began drifting toward the Chalice one by one, dissolving into streaks of radiant white. Every time one entered the basin, a faint whisper echoed through the air. Hinesia watched in silence. She could feel the Moth Maiden's presence within her. It was faint, subdued, yet trembling with emotion.
'They're free,' came a soft, wordless voice inside her mind. 'They're finally free.'
Her hand trembled slightly, but her expression softened. For the first time, the Moth Maiden's presence didn't feel cold.
The last soul entered the Chalice. The basin flared with divine light so bright that even the Pontifex stepped back.
The Goddess of Combat's statue loomed over them, its spear pointed to the heavens. The light traveled up the spear, to the tip, then burst outward to a beam of white energy that reached the ceiling. The entire cathedral shook. The sound of clashing swords, war cries, and the echo of countless prayers filled the air. They were the memories of every life tied to the souls.
The Pontifex bowed their heads as the light condensed again.
"It is time, Empress."