“How do you..no, that can’t be true. If it is then what’s the point of all this? Why did you make me this way? Why here in Atelier City?” Nera’s tone became more frantic and shaky as she continued. “Why can’t I remember anything about before and just who the hell are you? Who the hell is Valkyrie supposed to be?!”

Allen wanted to help but the barrier that now surrounded Nera and the mystery assailant had withstood all his and the rest’s attempts to break through it. He could not even begin to comprehend the depth of the emotions that were plaguing Nera now as she faced that monster alone.

“A vessel does not need to know more than what their role requires. You only need to let your slumbering power awaken through the Grim Reaper Trial I set up for you and this..” The masked entity uncovered Nera’s fingers that were around the Theurgist’s Periapt to reveal its cloud side.”..Is an obstacle to the crystal clear path I’ve laid out for Valkyrie and all other Inheritors.”

The mechanical hand crushed the Theurgist’s Periapt and Nera’s along with it. She let out a scream that caused Allen’s face to flare up with anger. He began banging on the barrier even harder than he had before, infusing Subtle Iron into each strike.

“Ahhh! Damn you!” She tried to throw another punch but a strong electrical shock racked her entire body with the mechanical hand being its source.

“I’m only doing what’s necessary to clean up your mess. A prolonged electrical current should be enough to destroy this nuisance. The pain you feel now will only serve as a reminder to avoid this mistake in the future.”

“Let her go, you bastard!” Allen yelled while throwing another punch that not only got deflected but sent him flying back into the wall. He did not waste a moment getting back and running in for another attack.

“You are a nobody that has clung to my canvas for too long. Do you think you have been more than a burden for her?”

Those words fell on deaf ears. Allen used every Craft Card he had empowered to get through the repulsive force field but he was only slammed back into the wall more fiercely the stronger his blows were.

Finally, a hole burst through the barrier. Dust from the decimated floor caught in the crossfire covered Allen as he stumbled through. Iyo and Xalia tried following but the barrier closed before they could.

“You’re too late. I’ve already finished clearing everything up.” The masked entity let loose its grip on Nera and she fell motionlessly to the ground with a loud groan. The young woman attempted feebly to get up but found no strength in her numb limbs. What used to be a golden disc had become just charred shards of nothing next to her hand.

The specter stones Allen held fell from his now useless appendage. His breath was heavy both from exhaustion and rage as he walked forward.

“Hanging you from your intestines would only be the start of making you pay for all the pain you caused her.”

Without turning to face Allen, it still responded. “You should look into a mirror. You, without any connection to the magic world whatsoever, dragged her and those others into helping you live out your fantasy of playing adventurer. “

Allen ignored the scathing remarks and kept marching forward, even if there was not a single trace of mana left for him to use.

You, who thinks simply trying is enough would be content with blaming any failure you face on your own unavoidable weakness or the inability of your comrades to compensate for it. You, who should not even have been the one stand by Nera’s side that fateful night.”

For the first time since making it through the barrier, the young man faltered. “Just what is that supposed to mean, eh?”

“It simply means that the Destiny Manual found in that alley was meant to go to someone other than you. That someone would have been the optimal guardian for Nera Vide. All the pain she’s gone through since meeting you has been because you recklessly intervened and threw events off their rightful path.”

“Huh?” No later than Allen croaking this out, a sudden arc of lightning shot from the white assailant’s hand and struck his chest dead-center. He fell over instantly with his shirt blackened from the impact.

“Allen!” Nera called out the young man by his true name and then dragged herself to his body. When she reached him, she found him breathing raggedly and his entire body limp from the extremely high voltage. “Can..you get up?”

“I wanted to ask you that. You…need to get to your feet and leave with Iyo and Xalia.” Allen wheezed out deliriously. “Heh, all that work we did and we ended up in the same place as when we met.”

“Hmph, you make it sound like forever ago.” Nera went along with his spiel to keep him falling unconscious. “It was only a week ago, now get up. I didn’t leave you behind then and I’m not doing that now. You’re too important as my personal lackey.”

The young man’s eyes seemed frighteningly vacant as he looked up to the fractured skylight that showed the half-moon. “A week, huh? I must’ve lived more in that one week than I did the entire year before it. …Don’t worry, I’ll follow along with you all as long as I can…”

His words trailed off into silence. Complete silence. She couldn’t even hear a heartbeat.

“He’s…”

“Dead. Not that his life would have amounted to much anyway. However, now, there’s one less distraction from keeping you from reaching your full potential.”

“Shut it!” Nera yelled out with fiery tears in her eyes. “You don’t decide his worth, or mine, or anyone. You don’t get to decide who lives or dies!” She stood to her feet despite the lingering effects of the paralytic shock through sheer force of will. The young woman stood in defiance between her dear friend and the unfathomable foe.

“And you do?” The mechanical voice asked in a tone that was as mocking as possible for it.

“I’m the Grim Reaper’s successor, aren’t I? I’m done fighting you all just to survive or run away.” Nera understood deep down that the real reason she had only wanted to get rid of the curse was not because she did not think winning against the other Inheritors or the mastermind behind the ritual was possible. She was afraid of what she would find out if she was the victor. “I’m going to pry all the answers from you and put an end to this sick game even if it shows how much of a monster I am!”

Before the assailant could respond, Nera felt her eye surge with a white-hot burning sensation but it was not from the electricity or tears. Instead, power was welling up from inside her own body. Iyo and Xalia watched on in amazement as a violet aura covered both her and Allen.

“No. This should not be occurring. This is not the right place nor the right time.” The ivory android stayed still as the spectacle unfolded. It was unsure of what to do in this unforeseen event.

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“Is this the Grim Reaper’s power? I have to stop-no, if it’s mine now then I’ll trust it to save the things that I want to save.” The young woman gave in to the overwhelming magic as she clutched her burning left eye. Nera’s mind went blank as the violet energy emitting from her pulled Allen back up to his feet. She turned in his direction and held out a palm from which an ethereal chain sprouted and encircled his arm.

“Wha?!” Allen’s eyes jolted wide open with a start and he checked his scorched chest to find his heart thumping fiercely in it. The organ had been forcibly knocked back to a proper rhythm. Less than a second later, he saw what was the cause of his reawakening. “Nera…what’s going on?”

Her left eye’s iris had become a violet “x” and her gaze was emotionless. Allen took note of the power wafting off her and finally realized what was happening. She had finally tapped into the inheritance left to her. An ebon marking made of feathers encircled the “A” tattoo on her upper arm and served as the final nail in the coffin. A Grim Piece.

“Hey, get it together! You can’t let this take over you!” Allen pleaded desperately. Much less than having no idea when the white assailant would resume its attacks, he did not want to lose his friend to some dead witch’s power before even learning who the real her even was.

Nera suddenly spoke with a blank expression. “Silence, I’m finally out, so begone you dull-” Her word cut out and the girl’s eyes flickered for a moment before regaining their usual but welcome glower. “Ugh.. why are you looking at me so intensely?”

Allen let the strained air exit his lungs. The tone she took before snapping back to her usual self seemed oddly familiar but that was not what they needed to be focusing on now. “Glad to have you back but we need to get the hell out of here ASAP.”

As if on cue, another arc of electricity was fired in Allen’s direction but Nera had already raised her hand to block it as easily as swatting away a fly. The entire area right next to Allen was obliterated by the action. She then winced and closed her eyes as if in great pain. “Ugh, it’s taking every bit of concentration I have not to lose control. It’s as if I’m trying to plug a crack in a dam overflowing with boiling water.”

Allen was amazed at her being able to rein in this much magical energy despite not having any experience using it as far as he knew. That is when he had an idea.

“Let me help you! It might not be much but I got more experience manipulating magical energy than you, and you’re already trickling it to me through this chain. Channel as much as you can and I’ll use it up as fast as I can!” Allen suggested with a confident smirk.

“There is no way that will work. You only risk destroying yourself and Valkyrie along with you. I’ll put an end to you before that happens.” The masked assailant gathered translucent hexagonal patterns in preparation to engage them once more.

“This sounds like a dumb idea, but I’m great at making those work.” Nera boasted with a fierce smile as she instinctively grabbed ahold of her forearm to better control the output of power, her left eye still shining with a violet cross. She began channeling magical energy directly into Allen through the chain binding them and he could feel his veins course with the red-hot power. “Let’s kick his ass, Lackey!”

“Roger!” Without another signal, Allen picked up the axe from a Craft Card he used that fell on the ground and leaped forward in a blur and the ground beneath his feet shattered. He blasted past all the hexagonal barriers separating the assailant from them and the chain luckily extended to keep up with his movements. The obsidian figure transformed its arm into a blade and Allen met it with his axe.

The two exchanged an innumerable amount of blows before Allen was blown back by a hexagonal barrier he had not anticipated. This was followed up by a volley of electrical strikes he had no choice but to evade by running along the barrier at the edge of the vast laboratory.

‘My body, it feels lighter than ever before, and each move I make feels like it could break through steel…this is the kind of power aimed at her.’

Allen pushed those concerns aside and vaulted back to the ivory android. He grunted as he felt his legs buckle from the immense amount of force. The two clashed back and forth as the android used its force fields to send rubble in his way. Allen worked himself to his limit to keep up.

Not destroying his body in the process of harnessing this much strength was akin to trying not to crack an egg while holding it with a wrench. To keep his limbs from bursting, he diverted the flow of energy to spin around his arm and then wrap around his body in a violet vortex. The centrifugal force kept the energy near but mostly outside his body. Not only that, this would be his route to victory.

Noticing the strain on him, Nera yelled, “Are you sure you can keep going?! Should I hold it back more?”

“No, give it everything you got and I’ll make sure it reaches him too. I’m going to end this right here and right now!” Allen shouted as he reeled his hand back for a decisive move.

“You nobody. You overstepped the boundaries of the mundane for too long. You are close to ruining her destiny. At this point, I will have to break her down and build her back up from scratch. With the advanced technology of Atelier City, that should be more than possible.”

The mechanical puppet speaking for the human far away from this battle erected the hexagonal force fields in a row outstretched to Allen and began charging them with voltage from one of its hands. They began beaming with white light until Allen was sure the resulting blast could blow everything in the building away, Nera included. The thought sent Allen boiling over with anger.

“You heartless bastard! People aren’t tools you can just control or throw away. Whether chosen or not, everyone has the right to decide what they want to live their life for!”

Without responding, the android fired its torrent of electricity that threatened to wipe out away everything that Allen had grasped desperately. The young man clenched his teeth and held out his forearm while grabbing it, mirroring Nera, and unleashed all the power they could muster into one single move.

On the ground, Nera’s thoughts were steady and focused. Almost more than she could ever remember. She had no recollection of using magic but she felt even if she had, this was the right way to use it. Directing magical energy into Allen felt natural. It was like she was the gunpowder and he was the gun. If that was the case, all they needed now was a bullet.

“Magical…” Nera started.

“Iron…” Allen continued.

“Drill!” In unison, they shouted out the name of the blast that shot from Allen’s right arm like a giant iron bullet that could tunnel through anything. The lightning collided strongly against the drill but the pair pushed with even more force. Nera’s back erupted with a wing made of chaotic particles and arcane runes raced up Allen’s arm.

The lightning fell to the drill and the blast crashed through the force field. This was the same trick that Allen had used to get past them before but amped to eleven. There was no stopping it now. Seeing its impending demise, the android tried to get out of the way but an orange line raced against the ground and caused an explosion that blocked its path.

“What?”

When it attempted to fly above Allen’s attack, it was stopped by a large bubble that surrounded it and blocked the machine’s movements before the android burst it with a single slash of its bladed arm.

“You fools. Do you think your little tricks can restrain this vessel?”

“Nah, but slowing you down is enough for me.” Xalia mocked from where she and Iyo were still locked behind the force field set up by the assailant.

“In this case, that is all that is needed.” The taciturn Oni followed with his knife jabbed into the ground and the ivory android looked to a looming shadow to see there was indeed no time left.

“Wait, it can’t be? Is this the power of a Valkyrie…and an Einjerhar? The power to blot out fate itself.”

With one last push, the raging maelstrom of jet-black ink from the young woman with monochrome hair and the young man with arms wrapped in bandages broke the final barrier and their mechanical enemy was engulfed in an all-consuming darkness.

The force blew through the walls of the room and scattered dust and debris everywhere. Afterward, there was no trace visible of the enigmatic white android with a crown of antlers. Abruptly, the chain around Allen’s arm broke apart and the arcane runes faded away as well. With no magic power left, Allen fell helplessly from a story up in the air and met the ground with a thud that rocked his whole body.

“Ugh, I need to work on my landings.” Allen groaned while being grateful that he had been able to bend his knees well enough to avoid breaking his legs. He looked over to see Iyo and Xalia were both relieved as the barrier keeping the two at the outskirts of the room began to fade. “Hold on…”

Allen hurriedly turned his head to see Nera sweating profusing with only her unaltered eye still open. She used the last of her energy to give him a cheerful thumbs up then collapsed over onto the ground. Allen rushed over but was glad to see her sleeping peacefully while lying amidst the rubble. The tenacious young woman did not seem to have a care in the world as her chest rose up and down at regular intervals.

Allen resolved himself to keep it that way no matter what strange threat entered his life next. For him, the Grim Reaper Trial had truly begun.