The first thing he saw was Vivi's face with a regretful smile. Her hands trembling as she reached out to touch his face. Her fingers slowly traced the contour of his cheeks, trying to hold on to the very end. It was a brief moment spanning no more than a few seconds, but it was as though she was seeing everything in their truest form. A hint of congisance lighting up within her eyes. There was no dramatic awakening or flashy powers. There was only her shallow breaths and her slowly drooping eyes.

Vivi was unlike any other Divine. Her powers were not nearly as destructive, not even close. While the others were more inclined toward destruction, she was more inclined toward creation. Her illusions were not just mere tricks meant to elude others' perception. They were real creations, but also temporary, fleeting. It is as Yulaiah said. They were not gods. And this meant that, compared to the other Divines, she was technically the weakest.

Her lacking power combined with the shock and confusion she felt had culminated in this rueful moment. Yulaiah had told her already. Something bad would happen that he would not be able to stop. He had warned her, pleaded for her to turn back the way she came. She knew the risks, but she was now realising that she did not truly understand the gravity of it. And now, she was paying the price, the last she would ever.

Eternity, so many people sought it, no matter how strong or how weak they were. Vivi never truly understood the concept. She never felt the pull that others felt, the inexplicable yearning they had for it. But in this moment now that seemed to last for hours in just mere seconds, she wished for Eternity. She wished to lay there, cradled in the warmth of Yulaiah's arms in both living and death, a superposition of existence that remained inconsequential to the rest. It was only truly precious to her and, perhaps, to him.

She was not nearly as powerful as him, but she could still see things in her own way. Yulaiah was not Galeon, but he was the only brother she ever knew. And from darkness that embraced her receding consciousness came memories that were not her own. She was not like Yulaiah. She was not like Galeon. She was alive. And now, she was closing her eyes.

"Ah, I didn't want to do it this way. I spent a lot of money, time and effort to get her planted with the Prisma Core. But you just had to force my hand, didn't you? If not for dear Scarlet, I might have already died."

Behind Vivi was a thin cloud of purple haze that slowly dissipated, revealing Cheyulah. He was injured, but definitely in a much better condition than either Valerya or the other red-haired woman that Latonai was now seeing in place of Cheyulah. Somehow, they had managed to swap places while within Latonai's gravitational domain. And while Scarlet was on the brink of death, it did not seem to matter too much to Cheyulah who only looked displeased as he pulled out the long purple stake he used to stab Vivi from behind.

"This is your fault, you know. We didn't need to hurt her. We just needed to wake her up, to help us resonate the Spire of Babylos with the Heart of Lua from an age long gone."

Cheyulah stepped back, putting as much distance between him and Yulaiah as possible. The silence that hung over the entire battlefield seemed especially deafening. And Yulaiah, he cradled Vivi's body in his arms. She was steadily growing cold to the touch as more and more of her blood escaped her chest. His light could heal most things, but the inescapable grasp of death was a law that even his authorities could not violate.

"I heard about what happened to the daughter of Retribution. She stayed in Melchior because you helped her. And now she's dead. It was not that long ago, and yet here we are. Your interference, once again, has cost you a life. Now, just stay there and witness the coming age."

Yulaiah heard all his words, but he did not react to any of them. Was it true that his interference had caused another death? Perhaps, but that seemed inconsequential compared to him failing once more. No, it was not his interference that led to Vivi's death. It was his incapability, his powerlessness. Even at the brink of ascendance, he could not yet overcome the absolute, the ultimate. They were not gods. They were not infallible and ineffable. Perhaps not even gods were, but it hardly mattered now. Such thoughts would do little to soothe his shattered heart.

There was something he saw when touched Vivi's thread. It was an unconditional love and trust in him, in her brother. Despite not having met each other in person before, she always held him closest to her heart, together with their mother. How could he continue to betray that with suspicion and coldness? In that moment, Yulaiah had chosen to discard all prejudice against her. He had chosen to reciprocate. In that moment, Vivi became the most precious to him.

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"You... will think back to this moment... and curse your entire existence."

Before Yulaiah even managed to finish his words, cold and sharp claws pierced through his back. Even Fury was surprised at how easy it was as he fully expected great resistance. But Yulaiah did not even bother. His titanic figure in the sky finally stopped what it was doing, finally letting go of the threads of the Spire of Babylos. Its singular eye gazed coldly at Cheyulah, Fury, Valerya and Scarlet before melting back into Yulaiah's body.

Fury ripped out his heart, still beating and pumping a strange blood that dyed everything it touched with the brightness of incandescence. He was enamored by it. Was this not the very blood of gods? Was this not the power to tremble the very world? He drooled as he yearned for a taste, and so he brought it up to his mouth and let the luminescent blood flow into his ravenous mouth. He shivered from the exhilarating taste as he continued to bathe the pouring font. And Yulaiah continued.

"You have made... two mistakes today."

Cheyulah watched Fury with irritation and disgust before turning back to Yulaiah who still remained on the ground. He seemed to have given up, but his voice remained crisp and clear. Amidst the deafening silence, his words were like a sweet lullaby, calling upon death's embrace.

"The first is killing me and her. And the second..."

The body in his arms stirred. In death, life came budding once more. In Yulaiah's vision, however, he saw the thread that was intricately intertwined with his split off. Half of its thickness remained, reforming itself into something whole while the other flowed away from him. It pierced the very fabric of reality, crossing boundaries to arrive at a place that he could not yet reach. It was the same place that he saw Sairen's thread go to. He knew this to be a true death, a life lost rather than reclaimed. Cheyulah and Valerya thought they understood what they had done, but they barely even scratched the surface. They were blind.

"Is waking her."

Vivi's eyes opened weakly. The same drop of moonlight coloured them, but they now also contained something else. A seed of prismatic light that was unlike anything the world has ever seen. Prisma, it carried a magnificent spectrum that painted the world brightly. But this was a grain of sand compared to the ocean that was contained within her eyes. They were a grand pool of radiance that kept everything in line, in perfect balance. They were a window, not to the soul, but to an entirely new world. And these eyes slowly lit up with cognisance as they locked onto Yulaiah's face so close to them. And with a sweet whisper, the resurrected body spoke.

"Yul? Was it all a dream?"

Her hair and horns slowly became dyed in even more colours than before. The pale gold and emerald green now flitted among a myriad others as the woman slowly began to glow. And with each passing moment, she was regaining her strength... and memories that were not her own. Memories of what had transpired in a life that she had not lived, memories kept safe in the undying heart of one girl. And with each memory came pain and wrath.

"Yul! No, no... don't leave me too!"

"Shu, I'll be back..."

Those were the words that broke her. From her chest, prismatic light burst out. It revealed what Vivi had kept hidden underneath her clothes for so long, a Prisma Core no larger than a fist. And yet it shone like a star. As the woman felt Yulaiah's life wane, she tried her hardest to summon every bit of power she had. But she too was met with the same lesson. Her authority was not enough to violate the ultimacy of death. She was forced to watch Yulaiah die, swift and ironic turn of events. She held him in her arms and kissed him one last time as tears flooded out.

"You... killed her, my other self."

She said in a barely audible voice, and yet somehow, the words resounded in the minds of everyone present. Those who knew this woman felt shivers run laps on their spines as they were reminded that the one who kept the Alma together was never the Rex. It was the Regina Alma. And now, she was awake.

"You killed... him, my love."

She gazed at no one but Yulaiah. She could not see anyone but him. But even as her gaze remained on her husband, everyone knew that she could see them all. And with each breath she drew, more and more prismatic light spilled out of her. They could not enter Yulaiah's chest to heal him for there was no heart to heal. But there was something else she could do.

"You wished for the return of Lua.... Then I shall grant it. I am Asheya, the Shade of Suriael..., the Heart of Lua."

And with her words, the world was blinded by prismatic light. The Spire of Erebos quaked once more as the resonance it hoped to achieve was beyond what it could support, but it did not matter. The Spire of Babylos was meant to resonate with the Regina Alma, the beloved child of Lua. Their resonance would have summoned the Heart of Lua that would in turn birth the new Lua from the shell of Corrin. But what Cheyulah, Valerya and the rest of their compatriots failed to realise was that the Heart of Lua had always been their Regina Alma, Asheya.

"My Prismatic Heart... ascend with me."