[i]This is it.[/i]

There is indeed something freeing about piloting. The feeling of strength, where one has the ability to leap a building or crush a boulder in the palm of their hands - of feeling your self, writ large, and carried aloft on wings of crystal fire.

For Isabelle, the worries outside the arena fade away. For now, there is only her mech, her opponent, and the fight.

[i]This won't be like last time. [/i]

When last they fought she'd been afraid of everything - the guns, the guardian, the idea that she could [i]feel [/i]things. She'd had her first glimpse of things outside the tightly controlled world that had been all she'd ever known ... and she'd never been able to let that go - not even when it had been torn from her.

She'd been lonely too - and the gulf that had been left after the destruction of Tate, in that eternity when Solarel had walked away, leaving her alone in an abandoned station with only the smouldering wreck of the Enkindler for company ... well, that void had now been filled by care, consideration and a [i]love [/i]that she'd never dreamed she could find.

[i]I'm as ready as I can be.[/i]

The Emberlight is in peak condition. Her mastery of her drones and the esoteric Trak'tho nanite technology is stronger than ever. And she, herself, has grown. No longer afraid. No longer alone. She stands with real family at her back - Asil, Tomas, Luca, Tad, Carm. With friends and allies at her side - Rosa, Quar (a friend, even if no longer a prisoner), Madame Toldeo, Mirror and Matty. People who would risk themselves just to help her, just to see her happier. Not because she asked for it - but because they [i]cared[/i].

[i]This [/i]is the Isabelle that faces off against you and the Aeteline, Solarel. Were this one of your YA animes, she'd be the character that has completed the trials of their protagonist's journey; forged through the darkness and the flames, climbed the mountain and who now stands triumphant ... no ... [i]Ascendant[/i], atop the ocean of clouds, ready for the final battle. 

She's different. You can tell that much. 

Have you changed like her? Or are you still trapped in the stasis of a cursed God?

[i]Hi Solarel. Remember me?[/i] - she foesigns, before whipping a pistol up and sending a beam of coherent light straight at your head.