The nameless creature took advantage of Raizo's final frenzy and unleashed one last attack.
In the very instant that Sword of Michael struck, a pentagram flared into existence. Something reached out, something unseen, and caught the blade in its hands.
The creature abandoned its body. It allowed Saturn's Will to consume it completely. And then—
A Higher Self emerged.
The form of Saturn stood before Raizo.
Raizo looked down; there was a hole in his stomach from the previous exchange. And there was no time to react.
The form of Saturn moved, and Raizo dodged, but now all he could do was survive. His body would not last much longer. And if he died here, rather than in the material realm, it would break the conditions of his resurrection. There would be no guarantee of return.
"Axiom Flame!"
Raizo set a trap, but it failed.
The form of Saturn passed through the flames, and they vanished upon contact, consumed without resistance.
This was a new ability that devoured energy. Anything the form of Saturn touched, it absorbed. And this meant with Raizo's strength fading, victory was no longer possible.
The form of Saturn surged forward, moving like the wind. Raizo barely reacted in time, raising what remained of his guard to protect his head.
It was too slow. He looked to the side and saw that his left arm was gone. After that, he stumbled back, circling weakly.
For the first time in battle, Raizo felt it, the drowning and suffocation of fear, and despair. Even in injury, he had always smiled. But now, he understood, that this might be the end.
Raizo fell to his knees. Blue flames encircled him as the form of Saturn approached. It reached out a hand, ready to seize him, to consume what remained. Raizo closed his eyes, and prepared for darkness.
Bethryl's eyes flashed.
Raizo did not understand what followed. He was no longer in that place, but instead, he stood upon a battlefield. And before him stood a man, watching over him, perhaps a great ancestor. It was a warrior who had fought to exhaustion, turning to go home, only to realise he had already died.
Perhaps, in all his battles, it had never been his own will that protected him, but this man, guiding him from beyond.
And beyond even that, someone else watched.
A woman stood at a distance. And there was something familiar in her presence, something deeper than memory. He was certain that she could have been his mother, but in a deeper sense.
He was sure that he had seen her before. Yes, in the moment he had first died, she had been there.
Raizo remembered now. He had stood before her at that time, in his wretched state, and he had made a vow, that he would sacrifice his mind and body, that every moment of his life would belong to her.
Why had he forgotten?
The form of Saturn struck.
Raizo's body was destroyed.
But in that same instant, an explosion erupted, and the force drove the creature back for the first time since its transformation. Flames roared upward, and trumpets sounded within the blaze. Fire spiralled into a great vortex, and within it, something was reborn.
A skeleton stepped forward, and it burned with an inferno. Bethryl watched and she realised that this was no longer Raizo, for his Higher Self had awakened.
The two charged at each other.
What followed was beyond battle.
Hundreds, thousands, of strikes clashed in rapid succession. Thunder cracked with every collision. Light split the air. The form of Saturn entered a frenzy, tearing forward with unstoppable force. Each strike carried enough power to annihilate an army.
It screamed as it unleashed everything it had.
And then, it stopped.
Raizo's Higher Self stood unmoved. The fire still burned along its bones, and the creature understood, that as long as that flame remained, it could not be destroyed.
The Self raised its hand.
A burning roar erupted, hurling the creature backward. The creature absorbed it all, but it realised at once that this was not a mere Flame attack but the same energy which had emerged from Raizo's Sword of Michael attack. The result was that it had consumed energy which left it damaged.
What followed was devastation.
A torrent of Axiom Flame attacks flooded the battlefield, so intense that Bethryl had to look away. The sound alone overwhelmed her.
This was no longer a battle of humans; this was something far beyond.
The flames subsided, and the form of Saturn staggered, gasping.
"Sword of Michael."
The final strike pierced through it, driving directly into the pentagram at its core. Fire spread through its entire energy system, consuming it from within.
The battle ended.
"And now divine vengeance has been enacted," said Raizo's Higher Self. "You will not pervert the laws of Axios any longer."
The creature collapsed. Its form shifted. Once again, it was a red-haired, bearded man, barely alive.
"At last… it is over," he said weakly. "Forgive me, my friend. They made me what I am."
"I know what you are," the Higher Self replied. "And when you return to Axios, he will forgive you."
The flames gently erased the man's body.
With his final breath, he spoke:
"Do not go any further into this realm."
"There is someone I must find," the Higher Self replied. "Someone who must face divine justice. I can feel him… hiding here."
Bethryl's focus sharpened.
The man spoke again:
"Do not go any further. There is a monster in this realm. No one is safe from it. Not even you."
Bethryl's vision returned, with towers collapsing, smoke rising, people fleeing in terror, and a figure moving through it all. Where it walked, only death followed. Bethryl stared. She knew, she had always known, but she had refused to accept it.
"Is that you… Ashar?" she whispered.
By then, Raizo had returned to his normal form.
"Come on, Bethryl," he said.
"We have a long way to travel."