---

Slowly but surely, they seemed to be making breaking apart this infernal armor. Though perhaps not necessarily as fast as Galahad would have preferred- it seemed their weapons did little to the heavy armor plating. Or at least some of their weapons were doing little. Chisato's explosives seemed to hit their mark, and Rudolf's powerful swing had made a meaningful cut. They were making progress. Reisa would respond with using her claws as mobile weapons. Thankfully, as he was behind her, he suffered fairly little from these weapons- they couldn't fly directly at him, having to angle and turn to get at him, giving him enough time to dodge or deflect them as they came in.

Glancing behind him, Galahad saw an entire ship heading their way- ready to crush Reisa- and probably them as well should it hit. The Kirins would probably have enough time to bail to another ship or otherwise find their way safely down, but this could be the killing blow on Reisa if it landed. They just needed to make sure the Skaellers hit. Which meant they needed to kill this abomination's mobility.

"Break its legs!" Galahad bellowed as he ran at the armor, staying behind it as he readied his halberd. "Chisato! Explosives! Hit the right side!"

Lunging forward and leaping, Galahad swung upwards with his halberd, aiming for the left shoulder, underneath the armor where the thruster met the shoulder. He used the momentum from his leap and the inside curve of his halberd blade to attempt to wrench and tear the thing off the shoulder- or at least damage it enough to render it inoperable.

---

Esben heard a clatter of Valheimer troops as, in the midst of diving for cover from Éliane's cannon, were thrown into disarray by his throwing the ship onto a new course. Metallic clangs as some of them crashed into the walls, jingling ammunition in pouches and belts, and a host of barbarian curses. Luckily for them, the invaders were stuck in a choke point of their own making, and with Éliane's own proclivities he wasn't terribly concerned about them yet. "Hope everything is going well over there!" he called out, before stomping down with one foot to keep one of the bridge crew bodies from flopping away.

He bent down, stripping away the deceased man's pistol, holster, and the pouch of ammunition he'd been carrying for it, tying them off to the side of his sword belt as quickly as he could. Cursing like the soldiers just past the entrance, he stepped over the body, half-throwing himself towards the console that had the throttles. Luckily, Valheim at least had a better idea than some of the ships he was familiar with in the water—letting the bridge crew have control of the engine power and speed, rather than having to try and get the commands down to engineering.

He slammed the throttles wide open. The massive turbines that propelled the airship roared over the forest canopy as they spun up higher, pushing huge amounts of air as the ship's approach to Reisa's weapon picked up speed. The screech of metal sliding against metal rang out as the ætherskimmer that had carried him and Éliane into the Valheimer flagship started to creep along the bridge back towards the busted open viewport.

Not good. Not that it'll matter if it's completely broken, but if there's a chance...

He vaulted into the seat of the battered aircraft, quickly scanning over the controls before putting his fingers on the one that he figured should power it back up. "Come on, tell me you've still got some life—Elly, be thinking of an exit strategy if I can't start this thing!"

If they survived this, he'd have to find a way to get the story to Bikke. Éliane may not approve very much, but even if their control of the ship was short lived, airborne piracy was certainly something new...

"Th-The head. She's in the head," Miina shouted, hoping that this might get a repeat of the armour-cracking on something significantly more… relevant. While having it flop around on one functional limb would be useful, that wasn't going to incapacitate anything…

Of course, focusing on the detailed workings of the weapon was currently taking a back seat. For one, Rudolf was… well, on fire. Quite literally, fire leaking out was… hmm, she was pretty sure that there was no approach to either magic, skill, or technology that would make that a good thing. But healing it? Oh, that would be quite pointless, it would just be adding more fuel. What was even going on?

It was just so… abnormal. Destructive and corrosive, the things she could learn and do if she had access to study that… if it could be replicated, then in pure destructive power, it must be unequalled, right? But it also felt… very bad. Definitely not something you wanted to mix with, from whatever was going on with Rudolf…

Okay, first priority: survive. Second priority: kill Reisa. Third priority: keep Rudolf in particular alive long enough she could find out what was going on. Izayoi could handle herself, generally, so…

Now, of course, Miina just had the matter of… doing something useful. Like avoiding those talons. Dodge. Wait, that one had gouged through her coat! Faster. "Haste." Dodge. Dodge. Useful, useful…

Well, she had a direct conduit to the weapon's internals, past all the armouring. It was no "drown Reisa" in terms of effect, but…

"Thunder. Thunder. Thunder." Under strength, really, but she didn't really have time to fire something more impressive…

---

The new vertical inclination of the ship threw Éliane off balance too, although she found a foothold against the frame of the doorway. She took the opportunity to mow down the temporary incapacitated crew that had been trying to retake the bridge, but she knew that reinforcements would be continuing to try to make their way through that door.

“A-okay!” she confirmed, in between bursts of shots.

She really hoped that Esben knew what he was doing when it came to flying –or ramming—this big floating bastard of an airship.
The pink-haired kirin encountered some more resistance, but from down the hallway, it was clear that the crew were wising up to the kamikaze tactics that Esben was trying to employ and were considering abandoning ship.

Her attention flicked back to Esben as he finally discovered the correct controls, the sudden accelerated lurch that made her fight to steady herself once more telling her that they were now on a direct collision course with Valheim’s newest superweapon.

“The exit strategy is finding the same lifeboats the crew are scrambling for!” she replied back, already hauling her big gun back onto the damaged aetherskimmer.

She wasn’t a mechanic, but she still had enough of a mechanical eye from working on all her guns, so she did a quick visual inspection alongside Esben. “If the engine works, maybe,” she concluded, before urging him on. “Go, go, start the bastard!”

Just one of those claws is the end.

The deck of the ship where I once stood is shredded. Had my body been in that spot, there would have been nothing left.

This thing is monstrous. It can't be allowed to leave here, even without considering our main objective. There mere sight of such a war machine would abruptly shift the purpose of any mission to bring it down or find some sort of countermeasure, as swiftly as possible.

It just so happens that our objective aligned with such a goal from the very start.

Dust rises from beneath my feet as I skid to a halt, duck low and tilting my body forward. I'm a smaller, more difficult target this way. It's harder to pinpoint my position, and I'm ready to move immediately.

Air fills my lungs as I suck in a deep breath.

Caradoc-san is right.

Judging him to be a poor tactician merely due to his Edreni nature would be foolish.

But a single explosive, or even a few---

I'm not sure it it would be able to break through this abominable thing's armor as swiftly as we need to.

No, that's probably not enough.

My hand reaches the pouch on my hip.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight---

Will even that be enough?

I have to guarantee the armor breaks. I have to ensure the leg goes down. I have to shatter the monstrous weapon's mobility as swiftly as possible.

This is no time for half-measures. This is no time to conserve resources.

I can make more.

I draw a kunai, flipping it around in my hand so that the blade faces the rope on my explosives pouch. The edge slices neatly through it in a single stroke, allowing me to slide it from my shoulder in a single motion without having to alter my stance.

I have to make this count.

I won't allow this Valheimr monstrosity to leave this battle.

Tying the explosives pouch shut, I raise it back over my shoulder, taking aim at the weapon's right leg.

Preferably a joint, but the power of the blast should do enough damage to disrupt its ability to move no matter where it strikes.

There's no time for hesitation, or trying to think of another plan of attack.

I'll shatter its armor, and bring it down in two moves!

I spin the bomb pouch once over my shoulder, then let it loose to send it hurtling towards the abominable weapon. It cuts though the air, black form growing nearer and nearer to its destination.

With my other hand, I draw back the kunai, sending heat surging through it as swiftly as possible using my materia. The flames surge down my arm and poor into its edge, igniting the blade and turning the metal white.

I can feel the warmth against my face, the flames leaping from its edge as I draw it back. My arm tenses. I need to do this perfectly, or else my target may realize what I'm attempting to do. I don't know if I'll have a second chance, but operating as if I will is the path of a fool.

So, I'll simply succeed in a single throw.

There's no questioning.

There's no doubt.

This is simply what I must due to ensure our objective is completed.

My arm snaps forwards. The kunai leaves my hand, a streaking trail of red and white through the cool wind.

My aim has to be perfect, so I can't have any doubt.

The burning steel hurtles through the air towards the pouch of explosives, and---

The Ruby Weapon’s talons were evaded and counterattacked in turn, the machine left reeling from Rudolf and Chisato’s combined assault on the legs. Black flame ate away armor plating while Chisato’s entire arsenal of explosives outright blew away the remaining protection around the ankle. Then the momentary glimmer of Rudolf’s sword sliced clean through.

Bereft of most of its right leg, the warmachina collapsed to one knee as Galahad went for a shoulder and Izayoi sprinted up a retracting talon to resume attempting to carve her way to Reisa. The dragoon’s strike managed to wrench off a portion of the Ruby Weapon’s thruster armor before a claw reached up to attempt to backhand him off. It only managed one strike before Miina’s repeated Thunders began playing havoc with its exposed internals, causing the Weapon to lock up for a brief moment, Izayoi continuing to howl like a banshee as she slammed her katana into one of the giant mech’s eyes.

Reisa maneuvered her machine’s other arm to force Izayoi to retreat back down to the deck, and she engaged the speakers while queueing a command with furious taps within the cockpit.

”Enough! Engaging spell matrix! Incantation hypertune: Dying light, rend my sword and sing in shadow!”

Aether began to well up around the Ruby Weapon in absurd quantities, outright ripping it from the space around them. Those more magically attuned of the Kirins could literally feel life itself start to become unsustainable in the immediate space around the warmachina, the deck of the airship warping and rending in real time. All the while, the flagship came directly down on a collision course.

___

Esben’s hijacked aetherskimmer managed to croak its engine to life, and they were off. The flying machine was nowhere near the speed it had been previously, but it was enough to safely see the two Skaelers off the flagship as what Valheimr remained on it either rushed for their own aetherskimmers in a mad scramble for survival, or simply braced for their imminent demise.

Of course, once they were up in the air, they were witness victim to what came next:
___

”From the deepest pit of the seven hells to the very pinnacle of the heavens, the world shall tremble! ULTIMA!!” The spell completed as the flagship was about to make impact, and a wave of raw aether surged out from the Ruby Weapon, set to envelop the Kirins in its baleful light, even as the flagship made contact with the mech’s armor.

For her part, even as the surge of death came rushing towards, Izayoi did not waver. Another scream came from the top of her lungs as she sheathed her sword, crouching down.

”No magic, no gambit, will save you from mine blade, even if it would mean my death!” She dashed forward, unsheathing in the blink of an eye and breaking her limits in a single great whirling cleave.

”Shin-Zantetsuken!” Izayoi’s blade crashed against Ultima, and the samurai general roared in defiance as she struggled against the spell of legend, buying precious seconds for the remainder of the Kirins to brace themselves and respond.

On the one hand, this was excellent first-hand experience of… hmm, could she even classify this? It was outright deadly to be around, but she wasn't sure that really counted for being black magic. It was deadly to not have any air to breathe or water to drink, but the absence of those wasn't itself a hazard. This was just overwhelming with raw power, whatever it was.

On the other… as useful as they were, materia were lazy enough. It still took skill and practice to use and control anything that replicated a more general control of aether, and highly specific effects? Well, it was what it was. But here Valheim had created a machine to do the casting for them. No knowledge. No finesse. Just another one of their stupid constructions doing things they had no business or talent messing with at all. She hated it.

Working out how to make sure Valheim lost this knowledge later would have to late. Skael had better not copy it, one country that had to be destroyed was enough.

… it wasn't as if she had many options. This was all brute force. Couldn't dodge it (well, if she could just teleport off the ship then it would be fine, but that would mean being in mid-air and Miina wasn't a bird), couldn't have a targeted defence… fine, fine, fine. Layer up the best she could on everyone stuck here, hope that it could ablate enough they didn't go splat:

"Shell!"

There it was again.

At the center of a growing umbral bonfire, the whirlwind of steel surged with redoubled desperation, as Rudolf hacked, slashed, and threw all his might into his strikes, each one boiling with abrading stygian flame— but each strike was turned away by the plating. The blaze itself found purchase, of course, the grinding and gnawing burn flooding each mote of damage, each fleck of indeterminate alloy their combined forces had spalled off. It crushed the exposed material, scoured it further apart, forced each minute scratch and crack wider and wider open— uncaringly weakening the constitution of the bleeding edge work of Valheim's military-industrial complex until Chisato's bombs, this time forewarned by a timely Fire in The Hole! at the back of his skull, blew the plating clean apart.

He leapt away as another brace of scarlet-orange flashes blossomed out from the damaged limb, watching the colored flames intermingle and dance with the lingering black before springing forth again behind another swing—!

And there. For a moment, a gleam of light within the burning shadow, and his dead steel found the briefest moment, one pure slice, of life. Why? He couldn't puzzle it out. He couldn't tell what prompted those instants of realized potential, no matter what he tried to keep track of—

Another spear from on high, forcing him back on the move before he could admire his handiwork, let alone even begin to divine what it was that made those two strikes different from every other. His breath was thick, heavy, smoke-laden. His lungs and blood afire. For a moment, he felt the dissonant urge to snicker bubble up within him— but it burned before levity could counter the weight of his inner blaze. A shame. The only one who'd appreciate the irony of just how literal his favored vows before a duel had now become was gone with the wind. She was better off for not seeing this.

He batted the last of the streaks of ivory talon away before they pulled back, and Reisa's tinny voice echoed again through the loudspeakers. Up at the weapon's top half, Izayoi and Galahad's efforts were writ large in more separated armoring, and one eye put out. The work was far from done, even as the mecha collapsed to a knee— but if they kept hammering...

"Dying light, rend my sword and sing in shadow!”

'Sing in shadow'... hold on.

Before Rudolf could leap in and keep hammering at the crippled weapon in hopes of, however it came, catching lightning in a bottle a third time, he felt his muscles lock against his will.¹

His aethereal sense was nascent if it existed at all. There was a large part of him that had believed that, whenever he could feel a shifting in the winds before the release of magic onto the world, mostly from Miina or the sudden shocks upon the world that were materia being loosed— it was mostly background leakage from the shadow that resided next to his soul, his still-nameless passenger feeding him an undercurrent of insight that barely stirred the surface of his senses. Nothing so concrete as what he believed the naturalborn experienced, when they read the ebb and flow and twist of the world's current, or for that matter the warped expressions it felt he ceaselessly produced these days—

But this, he could practically taste.

Oh no. Your shield. Grab your shield.

Anima from the very fabric of the world around them was torn, rushing inward, coalescing against the frame of the stricken warmachina, warping space. The image of the deck itself seemed to bow inward, as the surge of aether swelled into the upraised palm, shriving clean life itself. In a wholly new sensation, Rudolf realized that a wave of fear was flowing out into him, rather than from him.

”From the deepest pit of the seven hells to the very pinnacle of the heavens,"

His instincts began to scream at him, punching through the burning umbra, nearly drowning out the building panic from the second voice in his head. He planted his blades to the flooring, freeing a hand to dive for the pouch on his hip. His palm closed around averdant orb, used only twice before, but by all knowledge impermeable. Perhaps not the barrier he mustered on the dunes², but...

Not impermeable. Very, very strong. Shield is a spell known to me. So too is this. It is older, greater. When this world was young, it was primordial destruction. The light that cleft earth from sky. Ancient even in the age I lived. That it is manufactured in yours, bearing down upon us, is the worst card you or anyone might draw.

"The world shall tremble!"

A single point of light gleamed at the center of the maelstrom of aether. Around it, a dimming hurricane. Death itself. It seemed to even eat away at the prow of the ship careening into them from the side— the enormity of the moment slowing the mighty engines behind it to a crawl. The mote of diamond shone, again and again, brightening and brightening until even the rising sun itself seemed to be enveloped, defeated, folded in. He could even feel the fire that licked at his blood being pulled. The voice continued, even as the instant they had to mount their defense against this unfathomable collection of power hung. If that was all true, then—

I cannot bring out Svalinn. You would not survive what it would take to fuel its constitution. You're too deep in the hole.

A bit late for all that, isn't it? I've already set myself alight.

You're burning your blood. Your body in parts. You would be burning your heart itself. You would die, and then I would be rootless— my fundamental essence torn to dust, little more than smoke against a gale. Not happening. This is a bridge beyond what I can allow, beyond any destruction you have seen. In my tongue, for it was the end of all magic—

"ULTIMA!!"³

Rudolf thrust the materia forth, the orb of brilliant, polished emerald faint against the white-hot torrent of raw aether that swept towards the Kirins even as it thrummed with power, with blackened will. He could feel it, through his passenger's emotions, through their knowledge, through their unfathomable tides of experience, that the spell on its own wouldn't make the cut. Against such a massive surge of raw aether, the power that was available to the stone, even one so impossibly precious as Shield, would be swept away...

There was a faint howl, scattered against the rushing wind and blaze, but belonging to Izayoi— he knew the sound of her throwing everything she had to give and more towards certain death all too well by now. Sure enough, the blur of the samurai smeared across his vision, a streak of shadow against the wall of light spinning into a single, divine cleave. Shin-Zantetsuken struck the boundaries of the explosion and feld, one, two, three seconds. An impossible feat. Her iai strikes already being the stuff of battlefield legend, with each moment that he was flooded by exogenous understanding furthered the absurdity.

But through the haze, through the flooding starburst bearing upon them, through the rank hopelessness of this struggle, it left him with an idea. He had no time to think it through. It was miracle enough that she'd bought them all this much. All he could do was try.

"Everything one has to give and more", surely, didn't just apply to the body. It applied to magic, as he'd seen from the others. From Miina, from Eve. It could be made of anything that could carry the will—

This time, the materia itself began to smoulder, burning black like the gamble of every swing of his armaments.⁴

If Shield didn't have enough power to contest Ultima, then he would have to provide Shield with more. All materia was, when you boiled it down, aether compressed so thoroughly it became a stone that you could catalyze a specific spell through— an equation, supplying every input save the direction of the wielder. To maintain its use, there was only so much aether that could be released before the stone was rendered inert, lest the structure be degraded.

So conversely, if they intentionally pulled apart that structure, bit by bit...

"BEHIND ME!" He bellowed, perhaps fruitless against the din, perhaps fruitless in its redoubled unclarity. Before him, meeting the wall of raw offensive might, the white-gold of Shield blossomed outward— then another. Then another! Like the tigerlilies of Crandor in the summer heat, the barriers seemed to bloom, petals of hardened magic overlaid atop one another, and burning black at the very edges of the gold luminescence.

In his palm, he could feel the energy that thrummed about the stone, so familiar after all the times he had asked materia for aid, beginning to leak through the gaps in his fingers. For as numb as his arms had felt since this fight began...

Even at the epicenter of a profane, twisted bonfire, the Garden of the Gods awaited the Kirins' victory below, the fate of the continents' most devout hanging in the balance even as they fought their own war. If not here, then nowhere would be close enough to the ears of the divine for Rudolf to pray that this would be enough.

The dome met the shield with an almighty, bronzed bell tone, and the through nothing more than the channel of his final link of will that Shield would ever know, Rudolf felt his arm jar against the joint, beginning to burn with the strain of forcing back raw power. He grit his teeth, almost tasting copper.

There would be no second chance if it wasn't.

---

---

• _{1. When I say hold on, I mean it. I recognize that chant, enough that it gives me a sinking feeling in the stomach I haven't had for longer than everyone in this fight has been alive put together twice over.}
• _{2. It was a reasonable assumption when he departed that they would be effectively interchangeable. The same way it's a reasonable assumption you wouldn't need a raincoat when it's a sunny day outside. But sudden storms happen, and that woolen sweater doesn't exactly cut it for rain the way it does a brisk wind.}
• _{3. Oh, good. the name hasn't changed. I should hope not. This is the ideal destruction that all black magic chases the purity of— there are even schools of white magic that believe it to be their endpoint as well. The thought that all of order begins in an explosion, a burst of power unparalleled, is too rooted in faith. I guess.}
• _{4. Remember the part where I said I love foreshadowing? I've had that hunch for a page and a half, and I spent it looking over just enough of the gradient of the stones he's got that we have a shot of pulling this off. Where would everyone here be without me? We'd all have to pray the capital ship slamming into her hull does the heavy lifting we'll be too vaporized to do ourselves.}

---

Just as the pair slid out the open window the engine of the ætherskimmer came to life, managing to keep them from plummeting like all the Valheimer not fortunate enough to find their ways onto any of the other skimmers. Not without difficulty—Esben was having to pull on the stick with all his weight to try and make the craft respond, but thankfully it did manage to do so—but at least they were keeping afloat and alive for a moment longer. "Ja, ja, for en herlig dag," he sarcastically muttered to himself.

It wasn't a lovely day at all.

He looked down to the rest, where the airship was about to impact Reisa and the mech she piloted, just in time to catch the incantation she was broadcasting out to them. He scowled down, muttering again—"Ikke bare bare. Just once I'd like something to go right! Jeg tror ikke det, Reisa! Over mitt lik!" He set the skimmer to hover, pulling his journal out, thumbed open to the newest page, marked with the same symbol that had been carved into the altar where Isolde had tried to trick the entire group.

Eos and Selene would have to disappear again, he had no way to maintain so much at once. Once again the pair would likely scold him as soon as he summoned them in again, but there was little that they could do to stop the explosion of raw æther coming out of the Ruby Weapon. He had no clue how Leviathan might react to being called on, so soon after her struggle with Siren and being dispelled by Reisa, or if he'd even have enough in him to call on her, but there was no choice but to risk it.

"Leviathan..." He winced as the connection was established, and the roiling, boiling storm of the eidolon's fury rushed through his mind as though a burst dam trying to drown out the village below. There were no words, this time, not like when she'd been unwittingly challenged by the Kirins, only the hate for the invaders that had wounded her pride, that sought to corrupt the land and the spirits themselves. Straining to be released, to try and visit her vengeance upon the one at their head. "Not like that," he tried to argue back. Like arguing with a tsunami...no wonder Cid had brought Ifrit along.

"Your barrier, Leviathan. Let her incinerate herself, and let that be retribution enough!"

The tide receded for a moment. He stretched out the glowing symbol, the spectral form of the gargantuan Sea Queen rearing up, eyes burning with a furious glare to match the Dragon King himself. As in his mind, there were no words for the invaders—just an enraged roar, as the conflagration was encapsulated by a quick-rising ætherial waterspout joining the spells cast by Rudolf and Miina.

---

It was almost enough- armor and mobility had been severely damaged on the accursed machine, and yet it almost was still not enough. Galahad couldn't get deep enough into the internals with his halberd as he'd had liked, not before the massive claws of the war machine forced him to step back, blocking the blow with the wide blade of his halberd. They'd reduced its mobility, destroyed its leg, damaged its thrusters, and yet Reisa still had fight left in her. As impact with the airship seemed imminent, Reisa seemed ready to take the rest of the Kirins down with her.

That baleful light bathed them, distorting the deck and reality itself. Decking cracked and deformed beneath his feet, as Galahad began to move for safety. It was tempting to jump- but he didn't know if he'd be able to clear the blast radius in time. For as well and high as he could reach, he would always have to go back down to the ground- and he didn't fancy his chances of landing safely in the water should he be knocked off course by any shockwave from Reisa's attack.

Izayoi, for her part seemed to have no compunction against just running into the jaws of likely death. A near suicidal move that brought them precious few seconds. "Izayoi!" Galahad bellowed as he slid in behind Rudolf's shield spell, throwing his halberd to embed itself into the armor by Izayoi- not to add further damage to the warmachine, but to give the insane mystrel a way out once she was done being suicidal.

"Grab it!" He shouted as his Materia began to glow, already preparing to draw the weapon back to his grasp- hopefully with Izayoi in tow, to the relative safety of behind Rudolf's shield spell.

---

Éliane lived for moments like this. Her adrenaline was pumping when she made it onto the almost-broken aetherskimmer, the combat and rush of making it out of there narrowly skirting death giving her the high that she hadn’t felt after hours of slogging through combat over the past couple of days. As the rickety craft shot out, the sight of the massive airship falling upon Reisa and her abominable contraption was an awe inspiring sight—and the image of the crew of the stricken vessel spilling out in skimmers, lifecraft, and even parachutes brought further satisfaction to her face.

Unfortunately, she could only admire the scene for so long. The silly barbarian weapon wasn’t looking quite so silly anymore. Rather, it was looking deadly. The amount of aether it was gathering was beyond worrisome—even a relative laywoman to this sort of magitech like Éliane could tell this was going to be pretty similar to a natural disaster…

Below, she could see her teammates buckling up for a massive blow as they began shielding themselves.

Éliane began to urge a certain temporary aetherskimmer skipper to move faster. “Esben. Esbeeen. Fly faster!”

Even as he began to call upon Leviathan for protection, she began fumbling for her wind materia again. The skimmer could barely stay airborne as is. What would happen if they got hit by a shockwave in midair, especially when the airship completed its descent into that madness?

She poured aether into the materia, as much as she could without breaking it.

“Faster, dammit!”

---!

This move of desperation, a completely devastating spell that threatens to kill everyone on the ship, not just her targets...

The sheer power moving through the air threatens to unsteady me at my very core. My equilibrium is almost thrown out of balance. The world around me is practically vibrating, a thousand pinpoints being hammered down against my skin all at once, reverberating through my ears, to the center of my being.

I have no way of standing directly against this. I am not certain any single person does, totally unaided. A spell of this magnitude is an indiscriminate weapon of killing that slaughters anything it touches.

And the mission will not be aided by my death.

I am not certain how much I can mitigate its effects. Without any form of hard defense, I can only do so much.

I press my forefinger and middle finger as it begins to feel almost as if I will be shaken to pieces. I have perishingly few options, and my heartbeat is only growing faster.

This is all I can do. My gambit to ensure my life is not lost uselessly.

I such in a deep breath as the mana flows, then part my lips---

"Exit!"

I'm told the effects of this materia cause it to appear as if I am melting into the shadows and becoming liquid darkness. For me, I feel no different. I simply recede out of sight and out of mind, and out of the direct line of fear, of any opponents.

I can only hope that the others all have methods of surviving.

And that mine is successful.

Suspended in midair against the ever-expanding dome of pure magic, Izayoi howled and raged as she struggled to hold the tide back, her muscles straining to press her sword down against Ultima for just one more moment. But even she had to acknowledge in the end that any further effort was futile and obliged Galahad’s request, grabbing onto his halberd before his materia pulled it back along with herself.

Izayoi returned to the group just in time for Miina, Rudolf, and Leviathan’s collective shields to wash over the party. And it wasn’t a moment too soon before Ultima, unrestrained by the sword clashing against it, washed over the Kirins.

The triple layer of shielding was the only reason they lived, with Chisato being ever so slightly better off thanks to the layer of aetheric shadow she’d surrounded herself with. Even with it, Ultima’s light left severe aether burns and gashes in its wake, utterly decimating the airship deck they were standing on. Even as the party began to fall into the hold, they could see Reisa’s flagship crashing into the Ruby Weapon, the resulting explosion taking out the remainder of the below airship, even as the flames washed across what remained of their shields.

Up above, while Ultima itself hadn’t reached Esben and Eliane’s failing aetherskimmer, the shockwave from the spell killed what life the engine had left, sending the vehicle down in a tailspin in the Kirins' direction.

They were all falling, even as the Ruby Weapon emerged from the explosion, the vast majority of its armor blown off and its thrusters barely clinging to life to maintain a hover downward. Even so, its elongated arms remained intact and it was approaching ever closer to the Kirins in freefall. At this point, it was a matter of whether the ground or Reisa would kill them first…

"Get in close!" A familiar voice to most of the group rang out. Eve, in full Trance, surged up in the air on Bahamut’s wings, leveling out just below the group and casting her hands wide, Neve hanging off her back.

Golden light gathered beneath her and around the Kirins, the former coalescing into a solid magical platform while the latter slowed their fall to a survivable level. The Kirins landed, and were afforded a few seconds to catch their breath as the platform began to drop at a manageable speed.

"Oh divine Mother," Neve leapt off of Eve, touching down on the platform in the Kirins' midst. "Grant succor to these weary wanderers! Healing Wind!" The limit break wafted over the Kirins, restoring a measure of their wounds and stamina. Not in full, but still enough to keep them in the fight.

With that, Neve planted her staff into the platform, joining Eve in channeling aether to sustain it.

"You have to finish it!" Eve yelled as Ruby Weapon came level with the descending platform, talons raised.
"We can't maintain this and cast at the same time!"



"Still you survive?!" Reisa seethed over her warmachina's speakers, the weapon raising a claw. "Even should it cost us the invasion and the entire force, you must be stopped! In Valheim's name, I will end you!"

"GRAAAAAAH!" Izayoi had no more use for words at this point, and simply surged at the Ruby Weapon in one more berserker charge, readying a battojutsu strike.

"H-Hey, that's our line! You r-r-ran away!" Miina snapped back. Attacking… eugh, it was split open, but there was no point in her original planned offence now, they needed her to die fast and not have time to rig another explosion or something. So… support it was.

At least this was an easy choice. For one, she didn't particularly want Izayoi to die – brusqueness towards her father aside, family was still family – and for two… vengeance was important, wasn't it?

"Cura. Haste," Would that be enough? Well, it might keep her alive more, but… ah, well, it couldn't do any more harm at this point, could it? It wasn't like Izayoi would even notice what she was doing, this was just helping it along a little, "Berserk."

There.

…

"Protect." Okay, that was her limit. Izayoi and the rest had better be able to finish it, Miina wasn't going to jump in to stab this thing… and she didn't want to find out what happened if she was forced to jump without a way to absorb the landing.

The wall of light crashed and raged against the overlaid Shields, pure, primal destruction cloaked in a blinding white. Even through the added insulation of Leviathan and Miina's barriers, Rudolf felt a black pulse erupt through the straining tendons of his outstretched arm, through materia, through the filaments of shadow-tinged energy that once gave the magic within the stone its form.

Ultima, true its name, ended all. Its advance did not halt— it was only, for a few moments, checked and slowed before the whitened bedlam smashed through his spells, one by one, each sending another feedback spike through the lines of aether that connected will to effect. Dimly, he was aware of the others sliding into safety behind him, as whatever was left of his sleeve, of maybe even the skin of his arm, was torn and burned in the plumes.¹

If the strike was a bronzed church bell, then the failing barriers were stained glass being shattered, iridescent cascades that shone like every precious gem of the earth for a single moment, before retreating behind the light, behind the curtain of the world itself. They were hammers through his palm— brace as he might, he could not help but stagger backward. He was exhausted already. It was only the flame, and the desperation of it all, keeping him standing beneath the weight of the Last Light of The World.

Another crash, another spray of sapphire, ruby, amber, jade, flying past them in jagged arcs, impossibly brilliant against the washed out greyscale that was the world in front of the explosion. Another. He couldn't feel the horror right. His mind knew that one last flower of absolute protection stood between them all and oblivion— but his body simply burned. His blood boiled, his breath smoked, his thoughts scattered. He could only watch, dim and numb, as the apex of the spell crashed into the last Shield, burning, cracking, slowing...

"nnrgh...ggh..!"

And then receding, as the airship smashed into the deck where the Weapon stood and swallowed them anew in flame, a solitary moment of color afforded to them all before the deck gave way beneath their feet.

"Imir above..."

In that instant, Rudolf saw carnage. A crater in what he had once through solid steel, rimmed with a sunburst of rough-hewn gashes, like wounds left by serrated claws and blunt, tearing teeth. At their frayed edges, wispy tendrils of white smoked into the razed air, scattering into familiar aetheric iridescence as they faded into the world's mana once more. In that snapshot, he understood that he saw power on the level of the divine. It was nothing else. To rip energy right out of matter, heedless of composition...²

As gravity reasserted itself, and his final, barely-standing shield faded too into the aether, Rudolf realized he was no longer holding that familiar tangerine-sized marble that his palm had grown accustomed to— instead, leaking between the gaps of his spasming, burnt, flayed fingertips... dust.

They fell through, escaping the limits of the fireball as the carcass of the destroyer continued to implode above, metal screaming and tearing as Rudolf watched motes, then flecks, then a stream of impossibly fine dust fall from his grip, scattering on the high winds. Once a deep emerald as full materia, the infinitesimal, depleted fragments were now little more than washed out, dull and blackened beryl. barely more than gray, to his eyes. There was a sinking dread in his gut, watching them mingle and dance with the embers of black that trailed and leaked from him as the Kirins plummeted to earth; Shield was one of the most priceless Materia that were known to exist, only a handful having made it to Edren. He'd hardly believed he was being entrusted with it any more than he had been the quest in the first place, when the orb had arrived in Sagramore, the one-word commandment and King's summons wrapped around it like a Yuletide cracker.

Hardly the time to worry about it, with a dozen more immediate concerns, but how much of his Master's gil had he just wasted with that little stunt? Really, it was just a question of if he'd die now, die in a minute, or die in a week or two...

A spot of ruby streaked downward, hurtling towards them from behind the curtain of blaze and steel. Reisa's vote had been cast— "skewer them all before the canopy of Brightlam does", naturally. He managed to force his face into a grimace, his ashen voice into a grunt— the pain had spiked since his Shields came out. Had Eos been forced away by Leviathan's entrance? It made sense, but it sure as hell wasn't good. Stuck in freefall like this, the lot of them were next to helpless against any enemy that, even crippled as it was with all that armor shorn off, could truly maneuver through the air. He tried to grip his knife, to bring it and the greatsword about to bear, and searched for Galahad— if there was anyone that might be able to navigate a fight after being flung into the air, surely it was a Dragoon. and if there was anyone else with the ghost of a chance, the earthbound Sagramori still faced their share of—

"Get in close!"

Eve?!

His back hit something solid— but not the unforgiving earth, nor the many layers of battle-torn hardwood that shook with war below. Instead, at a speed that matched terminal velocity enough to not splatter them, a field of gold so very similar to shield had appeared, buying the party an unlikely way out of their jam— for a moment. He staggered to his feet, forcing his spent body upward with the blade of his sword—

"Oh divine Mother," a second voice joined the first, as a cooling, gentle touch brushed over his raw skin, creeping into his smoking wounds and guiding them towards closure. "Grant succor to these weary wanderers! Healing Wind!"³

The sound of wood striking bronze, as he cast a surreptitious glance over his shoulder— sure enough, Neve had leapt off the back of the fully dreadwyrmed Pseudolon and planted her staff into the field, feeding and reinforcing it further with her own aether. Black and white magic in conjuction...

"You have to finish it!" Eve yelled as Ruby Weapon came level with the descending platform, talons raised. "We can't maintain this and cast at the same time!"

Oh, shit. We need to kill the flame, I can't be eating at our footing. Did everyone make it out?

About that— the real reason you're going to want it gone⁴. Get ready to run. Two friendlies descending from eleven high. I'll be real with you, looking at it from the inside, these are going to be your last few seconds on your feet for... Focus on what you need to do before you feel it sink in.

Bidden by the information and helpful impulses through the vagus nerve, Rudolf's head snapped skyward even as Izayoi charged forth, strength redoubled by her little cousin's supporting spells. Sure enough, high above one of the aetherskimmers that Valon's troops had surrounded them with at the very start was caught in an inescapable tailspin, trailing smoke— and falling below it were two splotches of color, a pair none of the Kirins could ever mistake—

"Shit, Esben—" he bit out in a haggard wheeze, forcing his leaden body to surge forward and intercept the falling mote of Gold, a few seconds ahead of Pink. He sucked in a mighty lungful of wind, his airways raw and feeling lined with a million shards of glass— talking was unwise, wasted breath. He only had a few more of those to give.

The knife and sword clattered onto the field, left behind to free his hands as he all but dove forward, bending double at the waist to force power out of his legs, all but reduced to beast from man—

But somehow, his hands grabbed hold of the taller man, snatching him from gravity's clutches a moment before the bone-crunching collision the SEED seemed to be diving towards. Rudolf's eyes snapped upward again, tracking the rapidly approaching form of the Dame-Commander—

"Throw me!"

And the burnt-out young warrior's teeth ground in fury, exhaustion, and herculean effort, as the moment his boots made contact anew he torqued his body as hard as he could, every fiber of his screaming posterior chain firing, firing, firing! Feet ground, legs drove, hips wrenched, his flayed back and arms trying to split as they cast the abiding Skaeller's frame out and said "No more, maestro! We have no more!"—

And at the zenith, the fullest moment of this arc of suffering force, that desperate grip released, and Esben flew through Izayoi's wake, towards the last remnants of the Ruby weapon. Left far behind, Rudolf's voice shredded the inside of his throat, a haggard cry tearing through him as his knees buckled beneath him. Even his own weight was too much now. Only one push left—

"ELIANE!"

It could hardly be called catching her. Hell, it was hardly even catching Esben— as the instants that made up the gap between her and her countryman vanished, it was all the Sagramori Auxilia could do to use that crumpling of his legs as a source of one last burst of elastic reflex and spring forward again, intercepting her descent and breaking her fall with his own body. The impact knocked his last wind free from his lungs, and he was left in an utterly useless heap, true to his passenger's prediction. Still, it should have left her in fine fighting shape, free to spring back into the fray.

Two for one. They'd come out ahead.

Even though it felt like swallowing a brace of daggers, a small, weak, pleading voice sent her on her way.

"_{...Go win...}"⁵

---

---

• _{1. Don't worry about it right now.}
• _{2. Sublimation, eat your heart out. All of Black Magic, Mine and This Time's, eat your heart out.}
• _{3. This is the only reason he's on his feet. When the little sprite went, the careful equilibrium that was keeping this operation treading water quickly went sideways. Don't worry about it right now.}
• _{4. Their power output and Neve's specific reinforcing of the induced structure would have checked most anything Rudolf could survive producing, at this point. Naturally, he's leery after watching a priceless materia slip through his fingers, but it's a misapplied concern.}
• _{5. It's in their hands now. Even I can't do anything more— my new priority is making sure all my scaffolding can hold him together until that pretty little white mage or one of the old farts can look after him. And also figuring out how to safely insulate my essence from their magic, as interwoven as we are now.}

---

The barrier conjured up by Leviathan dissipated almost as quickly as the great serpent did, but it managed to keep Esben and Éliane from getting disintegrated by the blast that Reisa had let loose. However, the excess energies that weren't spent on outright destruction still washed over them, killing the engine in the ætherskimmer. He fought with the stick for a moment, trying to maintain some semblance of control, but it was an impossibility; the small craft was entirely reliant on its engine and manipulating the flow of æther around them, it wasn't an ærodynamic craft in any way.

Inevitably, it started to spin and fall, though the pair aboard it were lucky enough to spot the aid that had finally come for the party. Esben's eyes focused in on golden platform, counting who all had landed on it. Not one unaccounted for—good.

"Time to bail!" He stepped up in the seat, launching himself out of it with a powerful push of his legs, knowing Éliane would be shortly behind him. He twisted slightly in his fall, aiming for one Kirin in particular, one already moving to catch him, and shouted out just as he was snatched from the air by Rudolf's leap: "Throw me!"

And in less than a blink he was hurtling towards Reisa and the weapon she piloted. Izayoi had already come forth ahead of him, her fury and her blade providing ample threat for the enemy commander to focus on. He contorted himself, barely avoiding getting impaled as they struck at each other, grasping at one of the weapon's shoulders to stop himself.

Without another thought he launched himself towards the head, where he could see Izayoi was trying to get to, pushed the barrel of one of his purloined pistols through the open socket where an optic had been, and rapidly firing off the four remaining rounds in its cylinder into the compartment where Reisa should be.

---

Ultima crashed over them- as did the flagship. Only the many layers of protection the party had managed to pull out stopped them from all dying at once. Bright flashes of light and heat surrounded them, and before Galahad even realized what was happening- they were freefalling. Bits and pieces of the ship they were just standing on whipped past his head as the Kirins plummeted downwards- Reisa in her armor, somehow still alive. Galahad cursed as he immediately began to slow his own descent- angling towards a particularly large chunk of falling airship that he could hopefully use to jump off of.

Thankfully, such a thing wasn't needed- as Eve and Neve arrived, bringing magic platforms and magic healing to the party. The platforms didn't grant them flight, but it at least seemed to slow their descent enough to focus on the bigger picture at hand. Galahad pulled himself to his feet, feeling his own aches and injuries dull in pain. "Eve, Neve." Galahad managed to breath out, before managing a small, crooked grin, hidden by the visor of his helmet. "We may live through this after all, thanks to you."

They might not have contributed directly in the fight- but Galahad wasn't going to complain about a magic platform stopping them from falling to their deaths. They were still Kirins after all.

Their moment of reprieve didn't last long however, and the war machine was quick to rear its ugly head again. Galahad threw himself back into the fight- using the conjured platform to propel himself high into the air- punching through wreckage as he rose. Materia glowed and crackled as Galahad collected all the energy he could muster into a single point. Wyrmfang erupted with electricity, coating the entirety of the weapon, haft and blade with crackling arcs of light.

"Incoming above!" Galahad bellowed at the top of his lungs, his warning to his fellow Kirins as he hung in the air for a scant second longer, giving them just enough time to at least clear the impact point. Twisting in midair, Galahad reared back and launched his halberd straight down towards Reisa's damaged war machine with all his might. He fell down after his halberd a few seconds later, chasing the first impact with a second.

---

Even as Éliane had urged Esben on, she couldn’t help but to keep her gaze fixed on the falling airship, transfixed by the wreck that it was about to bring, combined with the chaos of the weapon itself. She watched in awe as the vessel finally connected, going up in a brilliant conflagration of fire and raw magical energy.

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” she managed to utter, watching as the resulting shockwave began to bloom. Of course, that meant that it was also blooming towards her and Esben. It didn’t take her long to transition back into crisis mode as she braced for impact.

The shock of the wave crashing over their ride brought the inevitable conclusion. While they remained in the air, the damage was finally too much. As Esben finally gave up on controlling the thing, she agreed without a word; scanning the battlefield below, she found the same refuge as Esben and launched herself out of the dying aircraft and towards the recognizable and rapidly approaching form of Rudolf.

Although her fall was broken with a combination of her wind materia and Rudolf’s help, her cannon didn’t receive the same fate as it slammed into the ground next to him.

If it could be salvaged, she would deal with it later.

Now redirected towards Reisa and her weapon just behind Esben, she already began attacking, a barrage from her gunblade already adding to the fire that the rest of the Kirins were directing towards Reisa’s war machine before she too made direct contract with her blade.

---I'm alive.

I'm bleeding. Somewhere, at least. I can feel it. I try to take stock of my condition, but it's difficult when so much of my body hurts. Signals from nerve endings all across my torso and limbs are crying out for my attention, telling me that something happened, that I should stop and take a look and understand the condition of my body. My clothing is ragged and torn, the force of Ultima managing to reach me and tear through the fabric.

But my weapons are still intact.

Most of my body is still intact. There's no damage so severe that I can't move.

That's all I need to know.

I can stop once the mission is completed.

I press two fingers together as my blade leaves its sheath, and the world of darkness around me is splits and bleeds. It clings to me as I emerge, splattering onto the deck of the ship and staining it in liquid shadow.

As my foot strikes solid ground, an echo of protest moves through my nerve tissue but quickly falls silent.

I have a single objective.

It doesn't matter if I'm the one who achieves it. All that matters is that someone does.

The one piloting that war machine must die.

Heat flows through my arm once more, pouring out of my fingers and channeling its way across the edge of my blade as I suck in a deep breath, filling my lungs.

The air warps around my sword, wavering as the flames surge and the steel glows white-hot.

My vision narrows to a single point. My senses hone onto a single target.

Kill.

That's all I need to do.

Kill.

Reach my target and kill.

All I can do is kill. All I need to do is kill.

That's my purpose.

That's my mission.

The world blurs as I throw myself forward, a streak of flames carving its way through the rushing air.

Will I reach her?

Will someone else reach her?

As long as I have killed, as long as the objective of death is completed, that's all that matters.

I don't know if I'll be able to walk after this. I can't be certain.

But that doesn't matter either, does it?

Not if I can kill.

I made sure to emerge from a blind spot. Either she tries to react to me and takes her attention away from one of her other attackers, or she fails to react to me because she's trying to defend herself.

Either way, I'll kill.

The objective will be met.

And then---

"Urgh!" Reisa's voice came across, pained. It seemed at least one of Esben's shots had made contact and penetrated her armor. "Worthless wretch!" In an instant, the Ruby Weapon's left hand claw came up to seize Esben, clutching the SEED in its grip. It slammed Esben down into the platform hard, leaving him laid out flat. The talon rose, Reisa intent on finishing the job, only for a sonic boom to crash into the Ruby Weapon's chest. Twice.

Galahad's blows left it reeling, and Eliane's follow-up barrage left miniaturized explosions across the warmachina's shattered form, barely holding together at this point. Damage reports clogged Reisa's display within the Ruby Weapon's cockpit, the Valheimr captain clutching a gunshot wound in her side with one hand. Her remaining hand slammed down on her console in frustration before pressing a button on the side and reaching for a gunsaber. At this point, it was undeniable that the machine was done for. From here, it was a matter of seeing if the Ruby Weapon had weakened the Kirins enough for her to finish the job-

Movement in her peripheral vision as the cockpit opened. Reisa whirled around, her gunsaber coming up just in time to parry Chisato's blow, crimson aether welling around her. She snarled, forcing the shinobi back with a shove, and turned to face the others-

-Just in time for a magically-enhanced Izayoi to come surging in, screaming bloody murder in her berserk state as her blade planted itself into Reisa's stomach, her enhanced speed and strength giving her enough momentum to carve through Reisa's aether and armor. An object in motion didn't stop immediately, however, and Izayoi's charge took both of them off of the Ruby Weapon and the platform completely, the samurai furiously throttling Reisa with her bare hands in midair as they plummetted down to the unforgiving ground below...

"Izayoi!" Neve screamed, eyes wide as Eve cursed. "Damn it!"

Black and white mage looked to each other, and the platform's rate of acceleration increased, the Kirins' stomachs lurching as the mages attempted to descend as quickly as possible without completely unbalancing everyone. Meanwhile, bereft of propulsion and control, the wreckage of the Ruby Weapon went tumbling to the ground in the opposite direction.

"We can't speed up any more without getting everyone killed! You have to save her!" A expectant stare towards Galahad especially.

___

Down in Brightlam, Valon panted for breath with a devil's grin as he faced Zacharias down. The traitor dragoon looked worse for wear, to be certain, and the majority of his men were laid out across the bough, dead or dying. But Zacharias was barely standing, leaning on his staff as he bled from half a dozen wounds.

The Ruby Weapon crashing down from the sky drew both of their attention, however, and it was impossible for anyone in the battle to ignore when it detonated in midair, a shimmer of gold well away from its trajectory.

"One job, and she couldn't even get that right...!" Valon swore in frustration, taking a moment to survey the battlefield. No matter how much he had Zacharias dead to rights at the moment, most of the invasion was either stalled or routing, with Zacharias having diverted the majority of his personal guard to shore up the defenses. That alone had decided a few crucial chokepoints, and Valon hadn't been able to kill him quickly enough to mitigate the damage. As it stood, there was no point in killing the Grovemaster if it drove the defenders into a frenzy to slay him in response. Especially not with most of his men dead or fleeing.

"You win this round, old man. Tell you what: we both know I can still kill you out of spite, even if your boys will skewer me after. So let me and what's left of the assault force withdraw in good order, and I'll let you live another...oh, I'll give it three years. Decrepit bastard. Win-win, eh?"

Zacharias lifted his head weakly, a baleful glare fixed on Valon...and nodded.