Dust and Hope
The strategy had been a classic pincer maneuver, though executed with the chaotic improvisation that had become the Coalition's trademark. With the East District secured and partially cleansed, it became the anvil upon which Zachary intended to break the Eclipse. The bulk of the Coalition's heavy infantry and the Castalia force massed in the East, creating a noise and threatening spectacle designed to draw every desperate eye in the Cult toward them.
It worked flawlessly.
Intelligence reports from the resistance confirmed a mass exodus of Enforcers and fanatics from the western perimeter. The Eclipse, bleeding manpower and leadership, had been forced to cannibalize its defenses, stripping the West to reinforce the crumbling East. They left behind only a skeleton crew—and, crucially, Estella Aria. According to defectors, she had been stationed there alone: a solitary sentinel guarding the back door. Whether it was punishment for her failures or a desperate trust in her prowess, no one knew.
Regardless, it was an opening.
Renalla and Orwella spearheaded the assault on the weakened West. With them marched Idia and her street gangs, alongside Adeline leading her scrappy militia of defectors and townsfolk. Their objective was speed: punch through the thin defense, link up with the resistance cells inside, and drive straight for the Mining Complex's rear entrance.
Meanwhile, Zachary and Adreana led the main hammer blow from the East. It was a brutal, grinding, street-by-street clearance intended to force the Cult back into their own mines. The two prongs would meet in the center, crushing the Cult's remaining leadership and their horrific Thrall farms between them.
____
It was barely morning when Renalla and Orwella breached the outer barricades.
Before them lay the winding streets of Roake's North-West District. It was quiet. Eerily so. There was no clash of steel, no screams of battle, no sign of movement whatsoever. Only the wind howled through the empty alleys and abandoned fortifications, kicking up dust in cold, hollow gusts.
"This is..." Renalla murmured, her brows furrowing as she gripped her staff. "Too quiet. Where are the guards? The sentries?"
"Maybe they finally broke and ran?" Orwella suggested. Her left hand gripped her Holy Lance, while her right rested uneasily on her sword's hilt.
"Or perhaps I'm enough of an opponent all on my own?"
A voice broke the silence from a nearby roof. A solitary figure stood at the ledge, her midnight-blue hair with its striking cyan tips fluttering wildly in the gale. She wore her Overseer garb—a deep violet robe accented with blue that clung gracefully to her frame. Her eyes, usually manic and wild, were surprisingly serene.
Estella Aria.
"Estella..." Renalla whispered, her knuckles turning white around her staff.
Estella looked down at them, a faint melancholic smile playing on her lips. "Hello, Renalla. It's been a while since our little confrontation in Anthill."
Her gaze swept over the vanguard before she stepped off the ledge. She plummeted into the street below, landing gracefully with a small, localized shockwave that kicked up a ring of dust.
"I assume you're here to break through?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Surrender, Estella." Renalla stepped forward, her voice unyielding. "Solus is dead. The Eclipse is broken. There is no point in fighting anymore."
"Oh, I know," Estella chuckled softy, casually smoothing down her skirt. "But I have my role to play, don't I? In the end, we're nothing but puppets for the higher-ups, aren't we, Rena?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"Nothing. Though you must've been at least slightly aware by now." Estella shrugged, her tone airy yet heavy with dark subtext.
Even with her cryptic reply, Renalla caught the implication. Higher-ups? What higher-ups? That can't be... The Curia?*
Renalla shook her head violently. No. Even if someone in the Curia had tried to meddle in Ardenia's affairs, the Holy Father would surely know. Her mind raced with those dark possibilities.
"...Are you trying to blame the Church? For meddling in Ardenia's affairs?" Renalla asked, her voice turning ice-cold. If the Inquisition heard her entertaining such thoughts, they would burn her for heresy.
"Hmm... Maybe?" Estella chuckled again, though her eyes suddenly sharpened into cold violet points. "But you know what, Renalla? The Radiant Church is nothing but a corrupt institution, using its holy name to hide its vile nature. Tell me, Rena... why did they let a dangerous man like Castillo roam free, when he was supposedly condemned to eternal imprisonment?"
Hearing that name made Renalla's breath hitch. Castillo. The disgraced Cardinal, excommunicated for his grotesque experiments on living souls.
"...Castillo... Are you saying he's here?"
"He's been here all along. But well, that's enough of an information dump. You're here to defeat me, right?" Estella spread her arms wide, spatial distortions shimmering violently around her hands like jagged glass. "Then come! Show me what the Church's lapdogs can do! Entertain me before the curtain falls!"
"Estella!" Renalla shouted. "Don't force my hand!"
"Oh, Rena. You still don't get it." Estella's eyes swirled with violent energy of corrupted mana. "This is the only way it ends."
Orwella didn't wait. She launched herself into the air, her Holy Lance blazing with blinding, pure-white light.
"[Longinus Lance]!"
She hurled the lance toward the cobblestones, unleashing a massive torrent of divine energy—a high Paladin's signature strike, capable of obliterating dark creatures.
Estella merely raised one hand lazily.
"[Spatial Fold]."
The air in front of her warped into a bizarre optical illusion. The torrential blast of holy light slammed into an invisible seam in reality, vanished instantly, and reappeared fifty meters above them, exploding harmlessly into the morning sky like a dying star.
"Don't get cocky!" Idia roared.
The street echoed with a sonic boom as Idia shattered the pavement beneath her feet, her crimson aura of Blood Lumite flaring violently as she broke the sound barrier. Simultaneously, Renalla chanted, unleashing a fast-cast [Dispel] aimed at Estella to strip away any active defensive wards.
A golden pulse stripped away Estella's passive spatial barrier just as Idia's reinforced fist came within inches of her nose.
Yet, Idia struck nothing but empty air.
"[Spatial Displacement]."
With a subtle shift of reality, Estella simply ceased to exist in that space, reappearing directly behind Idia. She gently placed a gloved hand on the gang leader's exposed back.
"[Repulsion]."
With a loud boom, a shockwave of invisible gravitational force slammed into Idia, launching her face-first into a thick barricade of wooden crates and stone blockades. Wood splintered and cobblestones cracked under the sheer force of the impact.
Estella sighed, dusting off her gloved hands. "Discipline, Idia. You rely far too much on brute force. Your movements are painfully easy to read."
Before she could adjust her stance, Orwella closed the distance, her longsword swinging in a lethal arc meant to decapitate her. Estella bent space itself, forming a long scythe of deep violet energy that met Orwella's holy blade with a violent shower of sparks.
"Tch!" Estella leaped backward, but Orwella gave her no room to breathe.
Steel met distorted space in a rapid-fire cadence. It quickly became clear that Estella could not match the Paladin in pure close-quarters combat; even with spatial manipulation, Orwella's refined martial skill was simply superior.
An intricate arcane circle flared beneath their feet as Renalla finished her follow-up chant.
"[Holy Ground]!"
The entire street illuminated with radiant light, instantly suppressing the corrupt mana in the atmosphere. Estella winced as the purification field burned against her skin, destabilizing her mana flow. Her spatial scythe flickered, fractured, and vanished into thin air.
"Clever," Estella gritted her teeth, finally showing visible signs of strain. "Limiting my casting speed..."
"This is for Justice!" Orwella lunged, her speed and physical strength surging under the effects of the holy field.
Estella clicked her tongue. The cooldown on her displacement magic elapsed, allowing her to teleport fifty meters back—but not before Orwella's blade bit deep into her arm, leaving a shallow gash.
Estella winced, touching the wound. Crimson stained her pristine white glove. "Alright. Not bad. I suppose I should stop treating this like a warmup."
"Don't forget to watch your back!"
Idia burst from the shadows behind her, her body wrapped in a ferocious crimson flame. Dark, shadowy chains erupted from the ground beneath Estella, wrapping around her limbs to lock her in place.
"Gotcha!"
Estella's eyes widened slightly—not in fear of the strike, but in bitter respect for their coordination. "Binding magic? When did you—"
Before she could finish, Idia's fist connected squarely with her ribs and Estella was sent flying sideways, crashing brutally through the stone facade of a derelict shop. Dust, crushed brick, and shattered glass showered the street.
"Kh... Heh... That hurt, you know..." Estella emerged slowly from the dark rubble of the ruined shop, wiping a trickle of blood from her chin. "You're all... terribly troublesome. I suppose I really do need to be serious."
____
Renalla's staff crackled as a high-tier [Judgment Bolt] took shape at its tip, but her fingers trembled. She hesitated. Just for a heartbeat.
The battle raged on in the narrow street—a deadly, chaotic dance of steel, magic, and blood-red energy. But amidst the thunder of Orwella's strikes and the roar of Idia's berserker rage, something felt terribly wrong.
Estella wasn't laughing.
There were no manic declarations of a new world order. No unsettling, psychotic laughter echoing off the rooftops. No arrogant taunts boasting about their inevitable demise.
Estella was fighting as if she were simply going through the motions. She parried Orwella's holy blade with [Spatial Shield], dodged Idia's earth-shattering strikes with [Displacement], and countered Renalla's suppressive fire with focused blasts of [Void].
Why? Renalla stood back, her magic holding at peak power, but her mind was tearing itself apart. This isn't the 'Mad Witch' we fought in Anthill. This feels like... before.
Memories rushed over her unbidden.
The sun-drenched courtyards of the Grand Sanctuary. A younger Estella, her hair less wild, her eyes bright with the thrill of discovery rather than the haze of madness. They used to spend hours debating arcane theory—Renalla arguing for the stability of Order, Estella passionately defending the infinite potential of Chaos. Back then, Estella's radical ideas were brilliant challenges, not threats. She had wanted to solve the insoluble. To cure the incurable.
"I'll develop a cure for the Lumite Assimilation!" she had said with cheerful tone while holding up a flask of shimmering blue liquid under the afternoon sun. "Just you wait, Rena! I'll save everyone!"
When did that bright-eyed girl turn into a monster? Renalla agonized internally. Or... is she still in there? Buried beneath layers of blood and terrible choices?
"Orwella! Left flank!" Renalla shouted, snapping back to reality just as Estella materialized a [Gravity Well] beneath the Paladin's feet.
Orwella grunted, her heavy armor groaning under the sudden localized gravity field crushing her down. Flaring her aura, the knight shattered the field through pure force of will and swung her blade in a sweeping arc.
Estella blocked it, but her spatial barrier shattered on impact. She skidded backward, her heels digging deep trenches into the stone street.
She looked exhausted. Hollowed out from the inside instead of just physical exhaustion.
"Why, Estella?!" Renalla cried out, lowering her staff a fraction. The question tore from her throat before she could stop it. "You're not fighting to win! You're just... stalling! Why do this? Why die for a lie when you know the truth?!"
Estella looked up, panting heavily. A lock of cyan-tipped hair hung limp across her blood-smudged face.
For a fleeting moment, her mask slipped entirely. The boredom, the arrogance, the psychotic veneer—it all vanished, leaving behind a profound, heartbreaking sadness.
"Because," Estella said, her voice soft yet piercing through the lull in battle. "A villain needs a stage on which to fall, Rena. And you... you need a victory that isn't tainted by politics."
"What?"
"Don't you get it?" Estella offered a fragile smile that didn't reach her eyes. "If I surrender, the Inquisition takes me. They'll dissect my mind, bury my research, and execute me in a dark, forgotten cell. But if I fight... if I die here, by your hand... then at least the ending belongs to me."
She raised her hands, drawing in vast, chaotic surges of violet mana that vibrated with a dangerous, unstable frequency.
"So come on, Class President! Don't tell me you've soft-hearted at the very end!"
Before Renalla could respond, the heavy sound of marching boots and clattering gear echoed from the surrounding alleys.
"Reinforcements!" Idia yelled, turning her head, her face smeared with blood and grime.
Emerging from the smoke was a ragtag militia, not a squad of polished knights. Miners gripping heavy picks, former cultists wielding scavenged blades, and at their head stood Adeline.
Her expression was fixed in grim resolve. In her arms, she held one of Castalia's experimental weapons: the [Type-2 Rapid-Fire Arbalest], a mechanical crossbow built to demolish armored fortifications.
"We're here!" Adeline called out, raising a signal lantern high. "Support the Judge! Don't let the Witch cast!"
"CHARGE!"
With a roar that shook the glass in the surrounding windows, the militia surged forward. They poured chaotic fire into the summoned constructs Estella had conjured to guard her flanks, keeping the perimeter clear.
Adeline dropped to one knee, leveling the heavy arbalest.
"Load the High-Explosive bolts!" she barked, her fingers moving across the loading mechanism. A sharp *clack-hiss* sounded as the pressurized Wind Lumite canister engaged.
Estella narrowed her eyes. Resolving to end it on her own terms, she wove her remaining mana into a towering, absolute defense—a [Dimensional Wall] composed of overlapping layers of folded space. It was a massive crystalline barrier of dark violet light, capable of deflecting almost every physical attack.
"Renalla! We can't punch through that spatial density!" Orwella warned, taking a protective stance.
Renalla looked at Estella, tears pricking her eyes. No... if you want your end, Estella, I won't let you hide behind your magic.
Renalla stepped forward, her staff shining with brilliant, golden authority. She channeled every drop of her remaining holy mana into a targeted unraveling spell.
"[Greater Dispel]!"
A blinding wave of gold crashed into Estella's [Dimensional Wall]. The spell didn't try to break the barrier with physical force; instead, it systematically targeted and severed the arcane anchors stabilizing the warped space.
The deep violet barrier flickered erratically, cracking and rippling. The spatial geometry began to unspool, spiderweb fractures of golden light spreading across its surface as the spatial density collapsed by half.
"Now, Adeline!" Renalla screamed, her voice cracking with emotion. "FIRE!"
Adeline squeezed the trigger and high-explosive bolts streaked through the air, trailing thin lines of white smoke, closely followed by a volley of heavy fire from the militia. They slammed directly into the compromised, destabilized spatial barrier with loud booms.
The deafening detonations tore through the fractured wall. The spatial barrier, stripped of its structural integrity by Renalla's [Greater Dispel], shattered into thousands of glittering shards of light.
With her defense obliterated, Estella stood completely exposed.
Orwella charged through the smoke, her [Longinus Lance] striking like a bolt of thunder and piercing Estella's shoulder. Idia followed a fraction of a second later, her aura-infused fist slamming into Estella's torso with catastrophic force.
Estella was thrown back, skipping violently across the cobblestones like a thrown stone before slamming into the base of a ruined fountain. She coughed up a spray of bright, crimson blood that stained the white marble behind her.
She attempted to raise a hand to weave one final spell, but her energy reserves were completely spent. The world swirled in a dizzying haze of gray and red.
It was over.
Slowly, painfully, she dragged herself up. Her legs refused to bear her weight, so she remained kneeling, her breathing ragged and shallow.
A long shadow fell across her.
Orwella stood above her, the tip of her holy blade hovering inches from Estella's throat. The Paladin's expression was cold, though her eyes held a soft flicker of sorrow.
"Any last words, witch?"
Estella let out a weak, wet chuckle. She turned her head slightly, her fading gaze drifting past Orwella, past Renalla, and locking onto Adeline, who stood near the militia line holding the arbalest.
"Yeah... I suppose I do," she rasped, her voice barely louder than the wind. "I need to say something to... the leader of... Roake."
Orwella glanced back. Adeline flinched, taking a hesitant step forward.
"...Me?"
"Yes... you..." Estella murmured, blood leaking from the corner of her lips. "I knew... someone like him... would be drawn to a girl... like you... Strong-willed... charismatic... yet fragile..."
Adeline frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Asep..." Estella whispered, the name floating softly on the breeze. "Take... care of him... for me... will you?"
Adeline's eyes widened in utter shock. She nearly dropped her weapon. *Asep? What... What is she saying?*
Before Adeline could process the strange request, Estella turned her gaze back to Renalla.
"I... did all I could..." Estella whispered, her vision darkening at the edges. "I caused... so much... trouble... didn't I?"
Renalla's staff crackled with raw, unstable light. Tears streamed down the Judge's face, washing tracks through the grime of battle.
"Estella..."
"Do it, Rena." Estella closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the shattered stone fountain as if resting after a long journey. A small peaceful smile touched her bloodied lips. "End this... nightmare."
Renalla closed her eyes for a brief moment, then opened them, filled with heartbreaking resolve. She raised her staff high into the morning air.
"[Light... of Judgment]!"
A pillar of absolute, brilliant radiance descended from the sky, enveloping Estella in an overwhelming column of purifying light.
Ah...
It didn't hurt. It felt like... warmth. A gentle warmth that wrapped around her, shielding her from the bitter cold world she had inhabited for so long.
Her skin dissolved into tiny, glowing particles. Her blood evaporated into a fine golden mist.
So warm...
Memories danced behind her closed eyes. She didn't see the horrors of Roake, nor the dark, cold depths of the Mining Complex.
She saw the sunlit courtyard of the Grand Sanctuary. Stacks of leather-bound books on a wooden table. Renalla laughing at a foolish joke about elemental theory. A summer afternoon beneath the shade of a great willow tree, the taste of wild berries, and the rich scent of old parchment.
She saw her younger self, unburdened and full of boundless hope, holding up a glowing vial.
"I'll save everyone!"
And then... another face appeared.
A man standing on a rocky cliff beneath the pale moonlight, the faint red tip of a cigarette burning in the dark.
"Maybe, if I met you in a library... maybe."
Asep...
Her smile widened, even as her physical form dissolved into pure light and ash.
If only...
If only I had just been... a normal girl... If only we could have met... under different stars.
The purification spell reached its peak, completely consuming her earthly body.
"I wonder..." her last thought echoed softly into the quiet void, "...would he... have liked... poetry?"
The final whisper vanished into the roar of the holy beam.
And then, silence fell over the square.
Renalla stood panting, her staff trembling violently in her grip. The beam had burned a clean hole straight through the marble fountain, leaving behind only a dark mark of scroch where the High Overseer had knelt. Faint golden dusts lingered in the air for a moment, drifting lazily on the morning breeze.
Orwella slowly lowered her sword, her head bowed in quiet mournfulness.
Adeline stood frozen, clutching the arbalest tightly against her chest. Her eyes were wide, staring blankly at the empty space where Estella had been just seconds prior.
Take care of him...
The words echoed endlessly in her mind, strange and haunting. Why her? Why Asep? And why had the terrifying Mad Witch sounded so... profoundly lonely?
"She's gone," Orwella said quietly, finally breaking the heavy stillness.
Renalla's legs gave out and she collapsed to her knees. Using her staff to prop herself up, she bowed her head and sobbed uncontrollably in the middle of the ruined street.
"Yeah..." Adeline whispered as a hollow weight settling in her chest. "She's gone."
In the distance, the muffled sounds of the greater battle continued, slowly overlaid by the cautious rising cheers of the militia pushing deeper into the district. The morning sun finally broke through the dense clouds, casting long shadows across the liberated streets of Roake.
Yet in that quiet, shattered square, the victory felt deeply incomplete. Because beneath the mantle of the terrifying monster they had set out to slay... in the end, it was merely a broken girl who had died alone, longing for a life she was never allowed to live.