e of the man who stepped into the enemy area in a relaxed manner.

"Savaris-sama!"

Savaris kept moving, ignoring the cheers. The skeletal army continued to move forward despite his attack. Savaris only headed forward and left the leftovers to the other Military Artists.

Blood seeped into the bandages wrapping his neck.

Lintence had sewn up the injury on his neck that Layfon made. Savaris had then received treatment in the hospital and his wound had been filled, but the vein that was cut hadn't been fully healed. One Full Power Stab was enough to open the wound again.

"This is the price of experiencing fun," he said to himself as he touched his wound.

"It seems I must act more wildly like Lintence-san," he said, shook away the blood on his hand and released a Kei move again.

External Kei variant - Absolute. Full Power. Stab.

Blood gushed like water from a fountain from his neck.

But the attack from the Kei was spreading from one skeleton to another. The skeletons fell like dominos.

"Well, let's do as much as I can."

Relaxed, he walked deeply into the army of skeletons, his upper body tainted with his own blood.

The sound of howling caused the sky to rumble.

The remnants from the clash of Kei rode the howls of the two and continued to spread, piercing the sky and shaking the monster's skin.

Psyharden technique - Flame Cut.

The result wasn't as simple as before, now released from two Heaven's Blades. Both persons' Kei bore fangs that attempted to swallow the other. The light of Kei blocked their vision. Layfon couldn't even see Derek who was in front of him.

All he felt was the pressure coming from the Heaven's Blade.

The feeling carried to his hands meant everything. Picked up by his foster father, raised up by him, his own traitorous act, the reconciliation, and the current fight. This may be a destined fate for both fighters. To survive by the blade. To fight on this world gone mad because of pollutants, and make oneself stronger. Perhaps this was written in one's fate.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

With force, Layfon shattered the thought "this can't be helped" that flashed through his mind. Even if this was a destined fight between strong fighters, there must be an end. Lintence's words that Felli conveyed "Stop playing around" pressed down on him.

Not that he hadn't used his full power.

But he didn't want to kill his opponent. But right now, his adopted father also held the same amount of Kei and the Heaven's Blade. The result of victory was his opponent's death. This was the only road that Layfon foresaw. He was afraid that this would become reality, and this would mean he had really cut off his past. He would never forgive himself for that.

If he thought that the reason of this fight was Leerin's will, then he felt he might have got something wrong. He had already decided to see her and ask her about her true feelings. He had already made this mental preparation before he fought his adopted father. Even so, fear and uncertainty filled his heart. Determination was the preparation he made to tolerate the coming pain. It would not lessen the pain. He had already known this deeply when his siblings looked at him with hatred. Then wouldn't it have been better if he chose to run away? Somewhere inside his heart was mocking him. But he couldn't do it. He wanted to confirm for himself Leerin's decision. His heart felt like this for some reason. At the same time, a premonition flashed through him. Not only Leerin and Derek, but also his link with Toby and the other siblings would disappear if he accepted Derek's words. This was what he felt.

The feeling of flowing water in his hand made him afraid.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Howling.

Kei continued to rise.

He continued to increase his Kei and poured it into the Heaven's Blade, ignoring the term "limit". The two Kei exploded in the middle point of the two Heaven's Blades. The two Kei were glued together like a solid ball flying in a narrow space. Each leap would cause one to lose his balance. The pressure of Kei assaulted him, but tolerating the pain, he raised his Kei to press down on that pressure.

He could bear the intense pain on his flesh, but the pain in his heart was frightening. These feelings must be contradictory. He didn't understand. All he felt was fear. He would rather cut clean than be tied in these feelings, just like the time when he arrived at Zuellni. Why. Why didn't he want to lose what he had taken back with much effort?

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"

Howling.

His eyes were white hot, but even if the tears were to flow, it would only be shattered instantly by his Kei. He had no other way to express his feelings than his howls.

To Derek.

To his foster father.

To his own father.

To his own family.

Why did it turn out like this? He couldn't ask that question.

"Don't cry, stupid son."

He seemed to hear that from Derek.

One instant. Just one instant. He felt he saw Derek's smile in that gaze blocked by the flashes of light.

Perhaps this was just a hallucination. An indescribable feeling filled his mind. His eyes hurt because of the light. Perhaps everything was just his own imagination and wishful thinking.

historical

Red dispersed in the world of white smoke. The color recovered in the next instant. Derek's body, standing on the other side of the Heaven's Blade, gushed red.

Gushing out from his Kei.

Layfon understood in an instant. The nervous system and the veins covering Derek's entire body could not sustain the sudden surge of Kei. The network ripped and from the rupture gushed the power that pained Derek.

Time seemed to slow. The Heaven's Blade in Derek's hands slowly lost power.

Wait. Stop!

Layfon ordered his own body. It was enough. The victor had been decided. His action wasn't necessary anymore. Stop. Stop. Stop!

But apparently he couldn't control his own body anymore. What controlled the movement of the blade in this situation was neither his body nor muscles, but the Kei embodied in the blade, exploding, controlling the blade at its own will and totally disregarding Layfon's wish.

The blade pressed down on Derek's Heaven's Blade and was about to enter father's body according to the path depicted in Layfon's mind. The tip of the blade would enter the flesh and travel from the left of the abdomen up to the right shoulder. It would soundlessly draw across Derek's body. Layfon seemed to be able to foresee the future of a few seconds later in his mind.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"

Despair filled him.

But a miracle happened before it all became reality.

The two Heaven's Blades, weaved together, lost their shape. They became one and the blade in Layfon's hands became one Heaven's Blade. Only ripples were left of the Kei technique that had lost its blade.

Blood gushed from Derek's body as Layfon's father fell.

"Father!"

Live-bullets headed for the unconscious Derek. Layfon used the recoil of his Kei to descend speedily. He caught Derek and passed through Barmelin's river of bullets and landed on the roof of a nearby building.

"Father!" he called, but there was no reaction.

(He must have fainted because of blood loss. He isn't in immediate danger. The ambulance will arrive in 3 minutes.)

Layfon was at a loss as he listened to Felli's words. He watched his foster father. He couldn't have failed to see the wound on the left hand side of Derek's abdomen. He caused that injury, or one could say he caused it when he was thinking of killing his foster father.

(Layfon. Though this isn't the time to say it, there's something I have to ask you to do.)

"............"

(All Heaven's Blade successors are on the defense. The captain is fighting on the outside so you're the only person available.)

"...... What do you want me to do?"

(Open up a hole in the monster's body and keep it open for some time.)

"I see."

He lay Derek down and jumped out.

Did he have to do that? Did he have to do that in order to see Leerin and confirm her thoughts? To defeat Derek with his katana. Did he have to do that?

What had happened to Leerin?

He had to confirm it.

The pain in his heart felt like his skin was being peeled off. Blood was gushing from him without ceasing. Did he have to do that for the present step he was taking? Did he have to tolerate that pain so that he could stand before her?

Did Leerin have the same level of preparation? Was what was happening now require her to have this level of preparation?

The monster covering the entire city. Was it because of it? Whether it was about that event or this.

"All because of you!"

Layfon passed through the river of bullets again and restored the Heaven's Blade. The appearance of Wolfstein was the same as he had remembered. Layfon felt nothing but hatred for the feeling of it in his hands. The result of the battle became like this because of Wolfstein.

He held it backhandedly with a pose ready to throw something. Fury turned into Kei and was poured into the Heaven's Blade. Disappear together with this monster!

"Hooooooooooooooooooooooo!!"

The color of Kei enveloped his entire body and became a circle of light. Fury changed the color of Kei into scalding red.

External Kei variant - Rumbling Sword.

Fury was thrown out along with Kei. The Heaven's Blade became a light bullet of red that stabbed into the monster's skin. The entirety of Grendan shook from the shaking of the explosion. The remnants of the Kei technique destroyed all surrounding live-bullets.

The hole made by force was revealed after the smoke cleared.

The gigantic moon gazed down at Layfon on the other side of the hole.

The colossal abdomen covering Grendan was shaking, and even faster than the shaking, the monster was regenerating.

Layfon took out the Adamantium Dite from his weapon harness as he fell. He inserted the special Dite into the slot in the Adamantium Dite, and the changes he expected took place.

Steel threads.

Thousands of Steel Threads appeared from the handle he was holding, and they began to shred down the cells regenerating from the wound. Kei flowed to the ground and started to burn up the monster's flesh. Layfon wasn't thinking of controlling the amount of Kei anymore. The insane Kei was cutting apart the monster, burning it and swallowing it. Layfon wasn't thinking of control because of his fury. The Steel Threads had turned red and hot even though the Adamantium Dite had a greater capacity than the Sapphire Dite. The Steel Threads released by the Layfon in the sky had turned bright red.

He felt the sense of danger immediately. Layfon poured forth the last spurt of Kei and tossed away the weapon.

The last explosion burnt away the flesh that was sealing off the hole. He speedily took out the Sapphire Dite, restored it and released the Steel Threads again.

But the kei he poured into the Dite was a lot less than before. Felli didn't say how long he had to keep the hole open. No, it was better that he hadn't asked. If she had said one minute, he might have relaxed in the last ten seconds. Besides, he felt that he couldn't calm his fury if he didn't let it out now.

But the capacity of the Sapphire Dite that allowed it to counter the regenerative power of the monster was much lower. Layfon was causing injuries in the monster's body rather than keeping the hole open. The hole was not big enough for the regenerative power to wane. The effort of the Sapphire Dite was useless.

In that case........

Only one Dite was left in the weapon harness, the Shim Adamantium Dite. He reached for it and passed through the hole with the steel threads to attack the monster from the other side of the air shield. There was no other way. He wasn't scared of the pollutants burning his body. The only feeling filling him now was fury.

But a change happened faster than his determination.

Leerin saw the moon.

The moon saw Leerin.

It's coming.

The moon appeared in her gaze again as she thought. She looked at it with her head lifted. On it was Nina and the figure of the mysterious man, weaved with fire, and the ten heads that were fighting them.

Through the Haikizoku, Nina was fighting the monster with the mysterious man. They were able to distract their enemy, but their combined attacks did nothing to unearth the monster's weakness. Nano Celluloid. The extremely tiny existence was hiding somewhere. It wasn't because Nina and the mysterious man did not possess enough power. It was because the scale of the enemy was too large.

This was the time for Leerin to do what she had to do.

She watched the moon, what the moon could see - the entire body of the monster.

Her gaze was fast narrowing.

The monster was trying to block off Leerin's gaze to the moon, and that effort wasn't slow. It wanted to close off the hole in an instant. And Leerin saw the figure of Layfon near the hole, as if the steel threads were pulling him around. He was keeping that hole open.

He had opened it and was keeping it open.

Her chest hurt. She didn't want to see him here at all, but he had created this last chance. Leerin must not waste the chance he had created.

She watched the moon, the thing that the moon saw.

The monster was reflected. Leerin concentrated on her right eye and used the power in it. She used the thorns to create the flower garden protecting the princess' slumber, and marked every interference with the mark of the grave.

The power existed for this purpose.

Felli also looked at the monster's figure again. The power of Psychokinesis had spread out because of the hole Layfon opened. Delbone's flakes were once connected and activated.

This was the last big job. There might not be a chance to turn this situation around if they failed. Felli quickly confirmed the situation as she bore the pain in her stomach.

Nina was fighting along with the mysterious man in flame. Felli gave up trying to confirm the monster's body but instead concentrated on its cells that reacted to the two's assault. It felt a waste of time to try to calculate the number of things moving underneath the monster's skin. The movement of each unit was difficult to explain like that of a messy current. Just thinking of separating each unit and finding out the source of each of them was difficult enough.

(Um......)

(It seems this will take quite some time to finish.)

Elsmau said in despair.

But they didn't have that much time. Felli bite her lips as she processed the vast amount of information in high speed. Thinking heated her brain. Her consciousness seemed to have flown away. She could only sustain her own consciousness through the pain in her lips. Her lips split and traces of blood appeared.

The hole continued to shrink. Layfon was nearing his limit.

She must hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.

But the huge thing kept flowing and changing as if to mock her effort. Only the sense of exhaustion kept increasing. Anxiety filled her chest and made breathing difficult. It was hard enough to just remain standing.

(Are there.... Are there any huge changes happening?)

Elsmau said painfully as if she was drowning.

If there was another way. Perhaps they didn't have to attack their opponent's weak point. It'd have been great if there was another way to defeat it...... All Felli could think of was the combined attack of the Heaven's Blade successors. That couldn't be done right now. It would be a huge gamble to bet on that move.

Was there another way? Though it didn't happen as Felli and Elsmau expected, their anticipation had been met.

The air suddenly shook.

The changes happened as if the air had suddenly lost its weight. Inside the changes embodied a certain will and a painful scream. It forcefully assaulted Felli, Elsmau and the ones fighting the monster, Nina, Dixerio and Layfon.

(What is it?)

Felli's question remained a question to everyone else except Layfon.

"........ Leerin?"

Only Layfon felt her taste in the scream in the air. Her painful scream at the sky cut through him.

The changes took place in the hole that Layfon opened.

Bubbles rapidly appeared like the surface of boiling water on the skin of the monster, in the hole that Layfon had opened. Compared to the black skin of the monster, the bubbles were white with something dark inside. Like an eyeball.

It didn't feel substantial. The balls were covering the walls of the hole and preventing the monster from regenerating. Creepy was the word to describe it. And then the number of eyeballs continued to increase.

The monster's cells became eyeballs.

The eyeballs grew to the outside of the hole. Layfon could no longer tell from his bare eyes where the eyeballs would stretch to. But numerous eyeballs were watching him as if they belonged to Leerin. He didn't doubt this intuition for some reason.

Nina saw the changes too. She saw it after hitting one of the monster's heads.

"What.... is that?"

The things spreading out from the monster's abdomen. They were getting closer to her after she landed on the monster's neck, and that was the time when she confirmed the things were eyeballs.

The eyeballs spread up to the head that Nina had hit.

Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

A sudden howl and her mad dash. Nina almost got thrown off the monster's back because of the sudden violent movement of the head. She backed away. The monster had never reacted so strongly no matter how much Nina hammered at it and how long Dixerio's flame heated it. Right now, it was thrashing around like it was trying to sweep away the school of flesh-eating fish on its back. Lighting fell on it in torrents.

But the eyeballs cared naught and kept growing in number.

"Wu."

She barely withstood the pain, using Kongokei to defend. The monster's rampaging had gone beyond what was normal. There was nothing more Nina could do. The words "retreat temporarily" floated in her mind then she began to plan her escape to Zuellni.

Ugruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!

All ten heads howled at the sky. The cloud cover dispersed because of the voices and so one could now see the moon behind it. The sun should have been out according to the time. In reality, sunlight filtered into the city after the cloud was chased away, but the moon ignored it all and was still hanging in the sky.

A hole suddenly appeared on the moon. It pierced the formless sky. A hole in black was exuding seven colors. The ten heads' howling increased in volume as if they were praying for something. The remaining dark cloud dispersed in the midst of lightning that were adorning the monster's body.

What did the monster want to trigger? Something that was different from all its past actions. It must be wanting to summon something ominous from the hole that had once appeared in Zuellni's sky.

Nina knew she had to do something. She readied her pose but she couldn't think of anything she could do.

At this time.

"I've been waiting for this moment!"

The voice came from Dixerio.

The flame writhing up the monster's body changed direction because of his voice. It headed straight for the sky and flew into the hole like a beast dashing out after confirming its target.

Something was wanting to come through from the other side of the hole, but Dixerio's flame had already covered it up before Nina could see its face.

Dixerio leapt over her as if he was running on flame. His masked face truly looked like a beast's. And darkness followed closely behind him. The white face floating in the dark smiled at her.

"Nelphilia.........."

The girl of night whom Nina had seen in Zuellni followed Dixerio to the hole as if she was riding the beast of flame. The two of them entered the flame-enveloped hole, and what Nina saw in the last moment was the flash of light destroying both flame and darkness, Dixerio's metal whips, the fangs of lightning.

There was not a sound. Only a formless attack hit her and then hammered the head as if it was searching for it. The head toppled and fell onto the monster's abdomen.

And then Dixerio and Nelphilia disappeared into the hole together.

The eyeballs continued to grow in number until they covered the monster's entire body.

The lightning raining down constantly was destroying the flakes. The impact that was fatal on Delbone's aged body made Felli kneel.

But she saw it.

(You saw it.)

(Saw it.)

Elsmau was in pain too.

The continuous growth of eyeballs, this unusual phenomenon, had released the mechanism controlling the internal organs of the monster. The units flowing inside the body dropped in number. What were left flowed to the central area and was then vomited out. Everything was very obvious now.

This was the place.

Elsmau reported the information to the Queen.

Felli then told Layfon and Nina to leave the monster as quickly as possible.

Alsheyra knew the monster's weak point.

"Saya, protect Leerin."

"I understood."

No one knew if she had heard Saya's reply. Alsheyra immediately opened her tightly closed eyelids, and this action alone was enough to make the air shake, and the wall collapsed because of it.

On the corner of her gaze was the screen projected by Delbone's flake. It depicted the monster's weak point in detail. The movements of the dot of light inside this colossal body were complicated, but the dot seemed to be having difficulty moving around, as if it was somehow restricted.

Alsheyra's gaze swept across the screen and then she took one step forward. The floor and the entire palace shook from just one step.

The shaking didn't stop at the boundary of the palace. It had spread throughout the entire Grendan.

Just one step.

She had only taken one step.

Not only Savaris, fighting at the mouth of the palace, felt it. Barmelin defending the city's sky; the Heaven's Blade successors protecting the outer-edge; Layfon who had given up keeping the hole open; and Nina, retreating back to Zuellni on the other side of the air shield. They all felt it.

Everyone believed what was about to come. Everyone believed this attack would turn the situation around.

"Grendan!"

The wall of the tower collapsed because of Alsheyra's voice. The roof was blown off. Alsheyra's figure appeared in the city, in the battlefield. The city damaged in the battle was spread out before her, but she couldn't see it. She had lifted her head with determination and was watching the sky, watching the culprit that had caused this.

(I obey!)

Grendan replied. A beast with four legs and one strand of long fur emerged behind her. The Haikizoku that was moving this entire city in place of Saya, guiding it to an endless fight with filth monster was standing behind her.

She reached out for Grendan. Nothing needed to be said. Grendan knew what she wanted just from her simple movement.

(My sharp teeth will become yours until they shatter.)

Flashes of light enveloped her hand and then gathered into a ball. An explosion without sound and impact turned the light into a piece of gold metal. The Haikizoku's power gathered in her hand and materialized.

It was a lance with two sharp heads.

"Of course."

She replied shortly. Her breathing had heated up. The energy flowing in her had been honing itself and waiting for this moment to be released. The energy in her would flow out for the purpose of destruction with every moment of her body. Her hand, her head, her foot. The air around her twisted because of the heat. The walls and the floor were painted red by it and the palace kept shaking. That heat would have burnt Leerin's entire body, the wind pushing her out of the building and her meeting her death in the fall, if she wasn't protected by Saya.

Alsheyra gripped the lance. The Kei inside her reacted to her action and poured itself into the weapon. The weapon, formed by the body of an Electronic Fairy, surpassed a Heaven's Blade.... It was a weapon that could contain an immense amount of Kei. Nina's iron whips were an example.

The Queen held the lance and leaned back, ready to throw.

The Kei in the lance with two heads made it shine.

Alsheyra threw it.

The lance traced a path of white in Grendan's sky and it made a sudden change of angle when it reached a certain point. It headed straight up. At the movement, cracks spidered out from where Alsheyra was standing and the floor started to collapse. The cracks spread across the tiles and even Leerin and Saya were swept away. Alsheyra's figure also disappeared in the falling debris.

During this time, the lance arced over the sky of the embattled city in unusual silence. It sailed through the air shield and easily pierced the monster's skin. It cut through one of the ten heads and headed straight for its destination.

The silence was shattered in the next moment.

It looked like water was draining into a trench to those looking from inside Grendan. The small hole opened by the lance suddenly became a whirlpool, sucking up the entire body of the monster as the whirlpool became bigger and bigger. The monster was swallowed in a split second and subsequently, the green sky returned. The ten heads had disappeared along with the dark clouds. The moon that had been insisting on its own existence had also slowly disappeared into the azure sky like a hallucination, melting into the firmament.

Neither explosion nor loud noise happened. Everything collapsed and was annihilated in a flash, disappearing into who knew where.

Everything ended in this moment.

Everything had ended. Everyone was at a loss as it all happened too suddenly. Out of all of them, only Layfon paid no attention to it.

The End.

(Note to Readers: Wait! There's still the Epilogue. Click Next ↓)