Vale stood atop the crimson wyvern's back, his silver blades lowered at his sides while violent winds screamed around them. Beneath his feet, the monstrous creature continued flying steadily across the ocean skies, its vast wings cutting through the storm clouds with terrifying force despite the battle raging upon its spine. Ahead of him stood the vice commander, white cloak snapping behind her while her demonic mask hung crooked against her faceplate.
For several moments, neither of them moved.
Then the vice commander finally spoke, faint confusion threading through her otherwise calm voice.
"Not the same as before?"
Her blades slid free from their sheaths with a sharp metallic hiss.
"Have we met before, Lionheart?" she asked, lowering herself into a stance. "Were you once part of the royal guard?"
The wyvern let out a low growl beneath them as Vale remained silent behind the obsidian mask. The vice commander studied him carefully before continuing.
"If you truly were one of us, then you would understand the severity of what you're doing right now. You are setting a monster free. That creature could slaughter countless people if left unchecked, and yet you still resist us."
For a moment, her voice softened.
"I admire your loyalty to that abomination. Truly. But admiration changes nothing." Her grip around her blades tightened slightly. "There is someone I must remain loyal to as well, and I cannot call myself worthy of that loyalty if I fail even the most basic duty entrusted to me."
A grin slowly formed beneath Vale's mask.
"Seriously?" he asked. "Is that really how you should be talking about your boss?"
The instant the words left his mouth, he exploded forward.
Steel collided with steel.
Their blades met in a violent clash that echoed across the skies, sparks bursting outward while the wyvern beneath them roared in irritation. Vale pressed harder immediately, forcing his weight behind both swords in an attempt to overpower her through sheer aggression.
But the vice commander adapted instantly.
Rather than resist the pressure directly, she let her body fall backward, dragging Vale off balance with her. Then her boot slammed into his abdomen.
Vale was sent skidding violently across the wyvern's scaled back.
He barely managed to catch himself at the edge before plummeting into the ocean below.
If he fell now, he was dead.
The vice commander rose smoothly several meters away, blades still poised calmly in her hands.
"My boss?" she repeated. "Who exactly do you think I'm referring to, Lionheart? I was never speaking about him."
Vale narrowed his eyes.
His blades lowered once more to his sides as he lunged again.
"Then who are you talking about?!"
He brought one blade down with enough force to split armor apart, but the vice commander stepped aside effortlessly. Vale twisted immediately afterward, spinning into a backhanded stab aimed directly at her abdomen.
Again, she reacted perfectly.
Her blade intercepted his own like a shield.
"My love," she answered calmly.
Vale blinked.
"Your love?" he muttered, pushing harder against her weapon. "Didn't think someone as terrifying as you could actually find a suitable partner."
A faint laugh escaped her.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Then she pushed forward violently.
Vale was forced backward as her assault intensified without warning. One strike became three. Three became six. Steel screamed continuously as the two exchanged blows atop the speeding wyvern, their feet sliding against crimson scales while clouds spiraled around them.
Vale grits his teeth.
Every attack he launched was matched perfectly.
Every opening he searched for vanished instantly.
It was infuriating.
They were equals.
Perfectly balanced opponents.
And Vale hated every second of it.
"Damn it all…"
He straightened suddenly and swung both blades downward with all his strength.
The impact blasted the vice commander backward several meters. She nearly lost her footing entirely before stabilizing herself against one of the wyvern's protruding scales, black hair whipping violently in the wind.
Vale inhaled deeply.
Then he released one of his blades.
The vice commander froze for the briefest instant.
Something was wrong.
Vale lowered his body slightly, pulling one fist back toward his waist while his breathing slowed entirely. His focus became sharper than a razor's edge.
The vice commander reacted immediately.
Her blade shot through the air toward him like a thrown spear.
Vale did not move.
The weapon drew closer.
Then,
His fist tore forward.
A shockwave exploded outward.
The force shattered the incoming blade in half before continuing forward with catastrophic speed. The vice commander's eyes widened beneath the mask just before the impact struck her directly across the face.
Cracks spread instantly.
Then the mask shattered apart.
The vice commander was launched backward through the sky.
Vale watched her fall.
And then his entire world stopped.
Fragments of black metal spun through the air as her face was finally revealed beneath the ruined mask.
Pale skin.
Emerald eyes.
Black hair whipping through the storm.
Beautiful.
Vale's breath caught violently in his throat.
"…Nym?"
His thoughts spiraled into chaos instantly.
Impossible.
That was impossible.
He had seen her before this. He knew where she was supposed to be. There was no way, absolutely no way, that the vice commander of the royal guard could be-
But the girl falling through the sky was undeniably her.
Everything suddenly clicked together with horrifying clarity.
The loyalty she spoke of.
The love she wished to protect.
Him.
Vale's body moved before his thoughts could catch up.
He leaped forward desperately.
"Nym!"
She fell beneath the wyvern's wing just as Vale barely managed to grab her wrist. Relief surged through him for a single fractured moment as he stared into her eyes, silently hoping reality itself would somehow correct this mistake.
But it didn't.
Nym stared back at him with frustration burning across her face.
And in that moment, Vale understood.
The vice commander and Nym were the same person.
His body froze.
That hesitation cost him.
Nym twisted sharply, using Vale's own grip as leverage to launch herself upward. Vale's hand slipped from hers.
Then he was falling.
"I'm sorry," Nym said coldly from above him. "But you have to die now."
Vale stared upward while the wind swallowed him whole.
"Wait…"
The whisper never reached her.
He continued falling.
Above him, the wyvern's maw ignited once more.
Crimson fire spiraled within its throat like a miniature sun.
Vale closed his eyes slowly.
"So this is how it ends…"
Oddly enough, he felt calm.
At least Illu had escaped.
That thought alone brought him a faint sense of peace.
Then the flames descended.
A torrent of crimson destruction rushed toward him through the sky.
Vale opened his pale eyes one final time,
and an onyx blur tore through the heavens.
A raven slammed directly into Vale, wrapping its colossal body around him just as the inferno struck.
The flames consumed the raven entirely.
Illu shrieked.
The sound was agonizing.
Its bladed feathers ignited violently while black smoke exploded around them. The force of the impact sent both of them plummeting toward the ocean below.
"ILLU!"
Vale screamed, panic finally overtaking him completely.
But it was too late.
The ocean surged upward.
Then the ocean exploded.
They struck the water with enough force to kill elephants instantly. Vale lost consciousness for a brief moment as darkness swallowed him whole.
When his eyes finally opened again, everything around him was blue.
He looked downward.
Illu was sinking.
The raven's massive body drifted lifelessly through the abyss, flames extinguished but movement gone entirely.
"No…"
Vale forced himself downward despite the burning in his lungs. He grabbed one of Illu's wings desperately and tried to pull the colossal creature upward.
It didn't move.
Again.
Nothing.
The water pressed harder against him with every passing second while exhaustion clawed through his body. His lungs began filling slowly as his strength faded.
Then the darkness beneath him moved.
Vale's eyes widened weakly.
A gargantuan creature emerged from the abyss.
A crab-like monstrosity hundreds of meters tall climbed upward through the depths, its shell resembling ancient cliffs while rows upon rows of serrated teeth lined its maw. Massive bladed pincers unfolded outward slowly enough to distort the surrounding currents.
A Deep Dweller.
And worse,
The Goliath of the Reef still hadn't appeared.
Vale's fading vision locked onto the approaching monster.
"So this really is the end…"
The creature opened its jaws wide.
Then suddenly,
It stopped.
Its body convulsed violently.
A shriek tore through the depths as azure blood erupted from every inch of its shell. Countless bladed tentacles pierced through the creature from within, shredding its massive body apart effortlessly.
The ocean itself seemed to freeze.
Then something awakened.
Far below them.
Something ancient.
Something colossal beyond reason.
An eye opened within the abyss.
A single pale eye.
Vast enough to dwarf entire castles.
It stared upward directly at Vale.
The pressure of its gaze alone made the surrounding ocean tremble.
Tentacles larger than towers shifted slowly through the darkness while the corpse of the Deep Dweller drifted lifelessly nearby like discarded prey.
One enormous tentacle began reaching upward toward Vale.
Toward him specifically.
Even half-conscious, Vale could feel it.
This thing was aware.
Watching him.
Interested in him.
His fading eyes remained fixed upon that colossal pale eye while darkness slowly consumed the edges of his vision.
And despite everything,
Despite the terror clawing through his chest,
One final thought still formed within his mind.
'What… are you?'