Karteira grabbed Orion, who had been pushed by the attack toward her.

Hugging him from behind, she watched before landing on the ground.

"Damn it!"

Florian cursed before moving past them. He watched, pained, as Karteira slid on the ground with the body of Orion in her arms.

"Orion! ORION! Answer me!"

*Cough*

All she received as answer was his blood on her cheek.

She looked at his body, looking for the damage. The orbs hit a dangerous spot, his chest.

Her emotions began to run wild. The tears began to fall on his face, which led him to open his eyes with difficulty.

The fact that he was still conscious was a good thing. He himself knew that he made a mistake in this fight, and that he paid the price for it.

But he also hadn't lost hope yet. He lifted his left hand toward Karteira.

Without hesitation, she grabbed it.

"I'm here! What do you need?!"

She tried her hardest not to lose herself. Staring at his hand, she saw the small, hopeful light.

"!"

Immediately, she brought his hand toward his injuries.

*Cough*

Orion began to cough more blood, as his body began to regenerate. The impacts made his chest cave on itself, with his ribcage completely shattering.

A few minutes were needed to heal such life-threatening injuries. He was lucky none of his broken bones punctured his heart.

While Orion was being healed, Florian was once again putting everything on the line.

'I have to protect them! I have to!'

He was still shocked at the sudden action Orion took. Never in his mind would this ever be happening.

'Would I also jump in front of someone to defend them like he did?'

It didn't take long for his brain to give him the answer. The picture of a single person appeared in his mind.

'If it was... Kamala...'

He kicked one of the orbs away. His lightning began to crackle, while brightening his surrounding.

'Of course. Why am I questioning his actions? Wasn't he the one to show me that hope still existed for us?'

His lightning element changed at that moment. Part of his magic left his legs, and followed his limbs until it arrived at his head.

In pain, he grabbed it, while looking at the next orb coming toward him.

His brain was burning, and he felt like passing out, but his strong will determined the next act.

Lightning changed the color of his pupils from black to purple. His bangs began to levitate a little from the static energy forming around him.

His legs also changed. Purple veins formed on his legs, hidden under his black pants. A little field of electricity enveloped his legs, and a levitating effect formed under his shoes.

With his hand still on his temple, fighting the pain in his head, he ran toward the next orb. His speed was on another level right now.

Before this state, Florian was able to run at 120km/h (74.5mp/h). Now, it was possible for him to run at 160km/h (100mp/h).

This was the birth of another Linked Elemental Mastery.

He ran so fast, and with the static field creating a levitating effect, he found himself running a few centimeters above ground.

In an instant, he was in front of the orb, ready to kick it.

With a kick that left a purple trail, he sent the orb back to Julian. Too bad he was able to stop the momentum, or else it would have been possible to kill Julian with his own orbs.

This was all he could do to help his 'friend'. He was ready to give his life for the man that protected someone important to him.

'You can't die here, Orion! Not when you've got people to come back to.'

For a few minutes, he fought alone, blocking each and every orbs coming his way, while listening to Julian make heartless comment.

"I've killed your only hope! HAHAHA! Florian! You are next!"

"Don't..."

"Don't?"

"Don't open that mouth, coward!"

That word was a trigger for Julian, and that's what Florian was going for. With that, all of his enemy's attention was toward him.

"I swear I'll kill you."

He felt a bloodthirsty feeling coming from Julian, as his eyes looked less human than ever.

While all of this was happening further in front of them, Karteira and Orion were finally seeing the result.

Orion's hand slid from his chest to the ground. Karteira looked at him with teary eyes, and an unbelievably broken heart.

His heart stopped beating.

"No... no... you can't..."

Florian heard the weeping behind him.

*Grit*

He kicked the ball coming at him and immediately ran toward Karteira.

"I can only do that for a second."

Placing his hand on Orion chest that had been fully healed, he discharged a great amount of electricity in him.

Without looking at the result of his action, he returned to defend them, hoping that it did something.

*Badump*

*gasp!*

Orion opened his eyes in a furry and grabbed his chest.

"I..."

'I died. I'm sure of it.'

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His body had finally healed, but for some reason, his heart had taken unexpected damage that he was unable to find until the very end.

Before he lost consciousness, he managed to heal it. This is the reason why he managed to come back thanks to Florian's help.

He immediately looked at Karteira, who was with her all this time. She was a broken mess, her eyes looked lifeless, and her expression was all but painful to look at.

"Karteira, I'm fine."

But she was not responding. Her mind wasn't here anymore.

"Karteira!"

Orion grabbed her shoulders and shook her a few times.

"Damn it, I messed up!"

Just when he thought that Karteira was out of the fight because of this, she stood up.

"A... G..."

She made incomprehensible sounds, before walking toward Julian.

Her usual cerulean colored armor suddenly formed around her body. The only thing different was that it wasn't cerulean anymore. It turned greyish white.

Even more surprising, a scale helmet enveloped her head, something that never appeared before.

Only her mouth could be seen, and her only emotion was pure rage. With her gritting her teeth with each step, she became the center of attention.

"Heh! She came back."

Florian, who was fighting alone until now, made a mistake and let one orb fly toward her.

"Shit!"

With a spin, Karteira smashed the orb with her tail away from her. Her tail took some damage, but it began to heal in an instant. Her tail was sturdier than ever before.

"What is happening?"

Orion was flabbergasted. His voice wasn't reaching her, and she seemed to be somewhere else. She wasn't even caring about herself.

Karteira stood straight, one leg crossing in front of the other, her arms in a reverse V shape on her sides. Her tail was above her right shoulder, ready to strike.

When no one expected it, Karteira ran toward Julian.

"RAAAH!"

Like a wild beast, she pushed the orbs coming at her away, and tried to punch him the moment she was close enough.

"Crap!"

Instead of using the orbs, which he knew would be deflected, Julian opted for his metallic wall instead, which was sturdier.

*BAM* *BAM*

She unleashed a furry of strong punches, but just like before, it wasn't able to do more than push the wall slightly.

"GRRRRR!"

Her scales changed form around her arms. She now had something similar to the steam propulsion that were on her back, but on her elbows.

With what seemed like a normal punch, steam erupted from her elbow, and she began to repeatedly impact the wall like this.

*BOOM* *BOOM*

The ground shook each time she hit the wall. This was on another scale of raw power.

*CRACK*

This time, the cracking sound did not come from Karteira.

The wall was beginning to show cracks on its surface.

"Wait! I wasn't expecting this!"

Julian began to panic when he saw the wall he was so proud of break in front of him.

"GRAAAAH!"

Karteira, in all of her rage, punched through the wall, and managed to punch Julian in the face, sending him flying tens of meters away, until he was stopped by a tree trunk that was laying flat on the ground.

Orion took this chance and warped next to her.

"Karteira! Karteira! Return to your senses!"

~

Her mind was broken. Karteira was walking in an endless void, having her memories being replayed in front of her.

"What have I done?! Orion..."

She crouched on the ground when she was forced to remember what had happened.

"You killed him."

Another Karteira appeared in front of her. She was completely bleached of any color.

"I... killed Orion."

"Yes, and? What a state you are in, pretty impressive."

The other Karteira applauded. Both turned their face toward the last memory, Karteira punching through a wall, and the Apostle.

"You've done well, I'll give you that. But that's it. You mind is broken beyond repair, and your body is unable to bring you back."

"Karteira. This is our end."

*GRIT*

"WHAT CHOICE DID I HAD?!"

She lost her temper.

"You know how much I began to treasure him! How could I have remained calm when he died in front of me?! IN MY ARMS!"

"Died? Who?"

"ORION!"

The white Karteira crossed her arms and pointed on the side toward the memory with her chin.

"Him?"

Orion was right in front of her, trying to make her return.

"Too bad you lost yourself. Knowing you, you're going to attack him. And he will be forced to kill you. Such a shame, but at least, you will die by his hands."

The air in her lungs instantly left. She was out of breath.

"Amelia... I'm sorry."

She placed her head between her thighs, waiting for the end to arrive.

Her whiter self walked and sat next to her.

"Tell me, what did you expect? And don't try to lie."

Karteira hugged her legs, and looked at her other self.

"I wanted to be happy. Mother told me that it would require an incredible amount of willpower for that to happen, but look at me."

"Yes. We've made friends, our life changed for the better, but in the end, we weren't strong enough."

"And just when I began to understand my feelings, here I am, dying. Talk about a joke."

Her voice cracked from accepting the reality.

"What was the point of this life?!"

"You don't know?"

Her other self was sarcastically making fun of her.

"No, I do know. Talking with mother made me realize how big our world was. Orion made me understand what strength and determination are. Amelia made me understand a lot of emotions I wasn't familiar with. And the queens made me feel welcome even if I was alone."

"But there is something else, isn't it? Something that changed us to what we are now."

She looked at Orion who was grabbing his head trying to find a way to bring her back to him.

"Love? For him, I was ready to do anything. But in the end, all I did was put him in danger. He almost died."

"But isn't it what he signed up for when he left to fight the Apostles? You know that too."

Karteira shook her head.

"Knowing and understanding are two different things. It seems like I did not understood enough."

"Would you give your love if you could go back to him right now? To start all over again?"

With anger, she shouted.

"NEVER! I will never give up on those feelings!"

The whiter Karteira smiled.

"Then listen well."

And disappeared.

"Listen..."

Silence was all she could hear.

Until a muffled voice finally entered her ears.

"...ra! ...rtei...! KARTEIRA!"

"Ha-...Haha. Can I really get another chance?"

She stared at the dark ceiling, and saw a little white light piercing through. The light gradually became wider, as it dropped on her.

~

"O...ri...on?"

"For the love of the world!"

The helmet Karteira was wearing crumbled in dust, as blood tears flowed from her eyes.

"I think I've never panicked so much in my life. Wait, I guess the first time was when Amelia was in the burning orphanage."

He quickly grabbed Karteira's hand and healed her, as she had a lot of deep cuts and bruises all over her body.

"It's my fault you've ended up like this. I'm sorry."

While healing her, he caressed her hair like he always did.

The hairclip that she had always on her since receiving it fell on her lap.

"Ah..."

With the little strength left in her body, she took it and clenched it close to her heart.

'I have to tell him now. I can't... stall anymore.'

She was determined to finally say it. After being pestered by everyone around her, the words were finally going to leave her mouth.

"O...rion. I..."

"Yes? I'm healing you, wait a bit."

She shook her head.

"No. I..."

"I... love you!"

The words came out stronger than she was expecting, but at least, she made her point clear.

"..."

Orion continued to heal her, but his brain froze.

'Wait, it's not the moment for that! Fuck!'

She said in her mind. Realizing that she was in the middle of a battle, she cursed herself for saying that now.

"Ah. Sorry, you can ignore that."

Feeling better now, she turned her face away. Her cheeks were burning red.

"Ku-ku *cough*"

A laugh came out from further away.

"Good for you."

Florian was looking at Julian the whole time, in case he would do something, but he seemed to have been injured so bad he was unable to move anymore.

When he was stopped by the tree trunk, the force broke his spine.

Orion stood up from his spot with a dark look. Karteira managed to see it.

'That's the same gaze he has when something bad is happening to Amelia...'

Each step Orion took toward Julian was creating pressure directly directed at him.

Julian began to sweat the more Orion approached.

Stopping right in front of him, both men exchanged a glare. Orion took out Alcyone and aimed it where Julian's right lung was.

"Wait! You can't do t-"

*Click*

The arrow pierced through the Apostle, through the tree, and through the earth. The arrow destroyed everything in a straight line underground, before stopping fifteen meters below the ground.

"AAAAAAAH!"

The hole in Julian's chest was maybe small, but the pain was still incredible.

"You mocked me. That I can tolerate."

Alcyone changed to Taygeta.

"But my friend's resolve is something you have no right to mock."

Pure darkness in his eyes, Orion pointed Taygeta at Julian's leg, and fired a bleeding arrow.

"GHHHH!"

Such an effect would be devastating for a person with an open wound. Julian's blood began to pour in massive quantity from his chest wound, filling the hole the arrow created.

"I'll watch you die slowly, for having tried to lay your hands on her. I saw your eyes, the same eyes that Apostle had when looking at that young girl. The eyes of a beast that ravish anything it sees, for its own pleasure."

Reverting to Alcyone, he aimed at his throat.

"Sometimes, you need to be careful toward what you wish for. Because one wrong move, and death will take you away."

Julian was gritting his teeth in pain, while losing his senses little by little. His red eyes began to blink, as his life was leaving his side.

"You don't have the right to die peacefully. And I don't want you coming back either."

"Any last words?"

*Click*

Before letting a single word come out of his mouth, Orion fired his most powerful arrow. It gouged the neck of the man, and ripped the head off of his body.

Blood gushed everywhere, as if it was a repetition of the Ceremony. The head rolled on the ground with a broken smile, as if his last words were going to be insults toward Orion.

'Someone that shares the same beliefs as that disgusting Apostle deserves the same death.'

Florian looked at all of this until the end. He felt his magic diminish, as he returned to normal.

"Another Apostle to cross on the list. Good job, you two."

Orion turned around with Alcyone on his shoulder, blood gushing behind him.

"Let's go back, there's still a lot to do."

Walking to Karteira, he picked her up like a princess, and entered a portal. Florian quickly followed behind, leaving the body of Julian behind.