Little by little, the light returned to Daisy’s vision. She stood up in a delirious state, holding her throbbing head. But the smell of lush grass awakened her fully. As her sight stopped being blurry, she witnessed the homely Kansas prairie. But to her shock, Mary appeared before her, looking stern.

"M-ma?"

"You've got yourself in quite the mess, my wayward daughter. You've made promises to me, your sisters, and many others. And now you're on the verge of breaking them all!"

"I-"

"What did your father teach you about this matter?"

"W-when you make a rule for yourself or god, you follow it. But I'm trying my hardest, ma, honest!"

Tears ran down Mary's eyes, hugging Daisy."I beg you to try harder. Please, get up and return to us, Daisy!"

Quickly, Daisy reciprocated, hugging her mother with all her strength. But the smell of ash soon filled the air, replacing the grass. And as a great fire consumed the prairie, Daisy awakened to harsh reality. Daisy woke to find the chamber on darkhold, crumbling in fiery carnage as flames danced around the room. And amongst the ruin, she lay trapped under a massive piece of rubble.

"It was a dream. But this is a nightmare!"

Daisy lifted the rubble off, but as she tried to walk to the generator, a sharp pain in her side stopped her. And her eyes widened with terror as she saw the cause. A metal shard pierced her side, pinning her to the rubble!

"No!"

Her mind raced faster and faster, blurring her thoughts. But all became clear as Morana appeared standing before her, smiling.

"Darling, I found the corpse!” Morana looked closer, realizing Daisy was still breathing with a groan. “Scratch that! She's still alive!"

Daisy saw her shield behind Morana and tried to summon it. But as it started to move, Cymbeline stomped it, pinning it to the floor.

"Trying that same failed trick again, Damara? You're even more pathetic than that pile of ash, general!"

As she heard Cymbeline, Morana burst into giggling. But she quickly stopped, seeing Daisy's injury.

"By the emperor, you've been impaled. One wrong move could kill you!"

Swiftly growing a sinister grin, Morana punched Daisy in the stomach. Daisy coughed blood from the attack, and Morana laughed at her suffering. But as she prepared for the killing blow, she stopped.

"Darling, forgive me. You're the commander of this mission, so you should have the kill!"

"Please be my guess!"

"You do know how to treat a girl, Cymbeline!"

Morana made an ice knife, staring at Daisy with a grin beaming with malefic glee.

"There are so many ways to kill you I can hardly choose! But, I think I'll carve out your heart and hang your corpse on my mansion. So you may serve as a warning to others!"

Joyfully, Morana plunged the knife toward Daisy's heart. But as the edge raced to its target, Daisy caught her hand. Morana tried to force it down, but no matter how much strength she poured into the attack, Daisy wouldn't move. And worse, Daisy crushed her hand, making her scream in pain. Cymbeline readied to take action as he saw them. But before he could, the shield caught ablaze and flew towards Daisy.

"It burned me, but how?" Cymbeline thought.

The weapon flew back into Daisy's hand, splitting into the twin shields. And as she pulled herself off the metal shard, a terrible truth for the nemesis became apparent. Even bloodied, bruised, and with a hole in her side, Daisy still possessed the strength to fight!

"She's alone, injured, and outgunned. So why does she not yield?" Morana thought.

Hastily, Daisy smacked Morana with her flaming shield, sending her flying across the room. Rage flared in Cymbeline as he saw them. Snarling like a wild beast, it incarnated as intense flames around his body. And he charged at Daisy with his weapons."You die now!” Meeting Daisy with fiery bloodlust. Her shields blocked his blades as they aimed for her vital spots. He slashed his weapons so fast it appeared like Daisy was guarding against forty opponents. And pushing her back, he grew swifter still. However, one strike soon broke through her defenses and neared the kill!

"Don't give up! Don't give up! Don't give up!" Daisy thought.

Cymbeline's blade closed on Daisy's windpipe. But as the tip neared her flesh, aid came. Carter, badly burned but alive, pushed away the reaping hook with his sword, leaving Daisy with a tiny scratch!

"Carter!" Daisy shouted joyfully.

"You live?"

"You're darn right, I do!"

"But how? I set you ablaze, falling miles in the air!"

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"You're right, and I thought I was a goner. But good thing the horse caught me in time!"

"What?"

Cymbeline heard flaremane above his head. He followed the sound to see the stallion through a hole in the ceiling. Enraged, he tossed a large piece of rubble at him. But flaremane flew away, evading his wrath.

"Now come on! There's no need to act like a child just because we’ll win," Carter said jokingly.

"Don't make me laugh!" Cymbeline shouted.

Cymbeline sent another fire tornado at the couple. But this time, Carter stood ready to meet the attack. He swiftly sent a flurry of energy slashes from his sword. They met the tornado in a massive explosion, butchering it. And as it subsided, he dashed towards Cymbeline at blistering speed! In shock, Cymbeline unleashed a salvo of fireballs at Carter. But he dodged the barrage to meet his adversary. And their blades soon collided with a vengeance as Carter thrust them across the room!

They furiously swung their blades against each other. Together, the two screamed louder and louder, signaling their increasing effort. Devoted to the other's destruction, they matched blows with relentless drive. Their slashes grew swifter and swifter with each attempt to slay the opponent. And they became a blur in the vast glimmer of their blades, circling one another in a dance of death!

Morana regained her senses to see Carter and Cymbeline flying over them."I'm ending this!" Quickly, Morana prepared an ice blast. But Daisy jumped to her, ramming her into the far wall! And as she tried to shoot Daisy, Daisy hit her with a headbutt, unconscious!

Swiftly, the duel between the men neared its end. With one final slash, Cymbeline cut Carter's sword in two. But as he took a second to laugh, Carter retaliated with a punch to his face, tackling him into a wall. However, Cymbeline blasted him away and prepared for the kill as Carter lay helpless. But as he was about to fire, Daisy jumped between them, tossing Morana at Cymbeline.

"Enough!"

Cymbeline launched a titanic fireball at the couple. But as it booked toward them, Daisy stood fearless. With her shield, she deflected the blast toward the generator. Hitting it, to Cymbeline's dismay!

"No," Cymbeline said.

"Yes," Daisy said.

The generator exploded. Daisy and Cymbeline rushed to protect their loved ones from the blaze. And the chamber was swiftly consumed in the colossal inferno. As it subsided, Daisy dropped her giant shield to the floor, quickly following, exhausted and limp. Absorbing the concussive blast of the explosion depleted her strength. But using all his remaining energy, Carter crawled to her aid, dragging his body across the floor with his last good arm.

Daisy smiled at her beloved. "One down. Now to Clive's!"

Carter forced a smile."And let's hope this time we get a challenge!"

Despite the pain in her chest, Carter's words made Daisy laugh. But she stopped as a grim question rose in her mind.

"But seriously, do you have enough fight left for this?"

"I guess we'll find out!"

Flaremane flew to them, inviting the couple to come on his back. And helping each other up, they happily accepted. As they left, a pillar of fire pierced up from a pile of rubble. It revealed Cymbeline with Morana unconscious in his arms. But seeing his beloved hurt and his fortress crumbling around him, Cymbeline knew defeat was upon them. However, still, he hurried to one final recourse against the enemy.

Back at the base, in the infirmary, the staff rushed to move the patients to safety. But amongst the chaos, little by little, Lucas' eyes started to open. And as he regained consciousness, still only half awake, his thoughts poured out.

"Sarah?"

Meanwhile, at the fortress, Daisy and Carter flew through the air. They saw the buildings where the other generators were in flaming ruins. And they were bewildered at who could have destroyed Clive’s generator.

"Do you think Hydromos did this?"

Unanticipatedly, Daisy's communicator rang, and she answered it.

"Damara, General Carter, what is your status?" Favian asked over the communicator.

"Oh, good, General Favian. We were wondering if you handled Clive's generator?"

"No, me and Ros handled it. And I guess Yara helped a little too!"

"Clive, brother, I thought you were dead!"

"I'm not going anywhere, Carter!"

Carter released a deluge of happy tears, hearing his friend. But he swiftly stopped, red-faced, seeing Daisy smiling at him. However, Daisy pulled him close, kissing him with overflowing passion.

"We win," Daisy said.

On the other side of the fortress, Cymbeline neared his recourse. He staggered to a balcony, fighting to stay conscious. But as he started to go under, he clung to the waking world, using his hatred, and reached his destination, the targeting system. Cymbeline typed on a holographic control panel and again summoned it. And using the darkest of powers, Cymbeline committed one final act of revenge. From his hands, a titanic fireball of black flames came forth, endowed with all his hate, and with the system, he sent it hurtling to its target!

Soon, the fireball left the fortress in a sonic boom, getting Daisy and the other’s terrified attention.

"What in god's name is that?"

"It must be Cymbeline. The skinny freak's not going down without a fight!"

"But what can he possibly hope to hit out here, a swamp?"

"If the fortress has enough emergency power, he must have used the short-range targeting system!” Favian ran to Daisy and Carter, terrified, as an idea came to him. “There should be at least one settlement in its range!"

Hearing Favian, Daisy's face became pale white. Swiftly, Daisy readied to take action, but as she looked at Carter, she stopped, teary-eyed. "Carter, I'm sorry!"

"I understand!"

Quickly, Carter dismounted from flaremane. With a wave goodbye, Daisy valiantly flew off to quell the coming disaster! Daisy booked from the fortress in a red streak across the sky, creating a sonic boom. Faster and faster, she rode on flaremane to catch the fireball trailing behind it. But as it closed on its target, with a tug of flaremane's reigns, Daisy outran it, intercepting its path.

"I won't let you hurt these people!"

As Daisy guarded against the fireball, the heat was unlike any she had endured. Endowed with Cymbeline's hellish hate, it attacked her flesh, reaching the wound on her side. But even with the intense pain, she forced the fireball upward away from the settlement. However, as it got further up the sky, the black flames wrapped around Daisy and flaremane. They quickly dragged the two into the heart of the fireball. And as the fire consumed them, it detonated in an explosion of brilliant light with a small fraction of the sun’s diameter, clearing the sky of clouds for miles!

Weeks later, the sun rose on the first day of March. The David family waited outside Joseph's stable eagerly for Daisy’s return. But as the minutes mounted, so did their worry. Especially Belle, as her bloodshot eyes saw no sign of Daisy in the sky.

"She's dead," Belle said.

"Chief, don't talk like that," Aisha said.

"Like what, the truth? The monsters ruined our lives again!"

"Belle, stop it. God returned her to us once he'll do it again," Mary said.

Despite Mary's words, Belle's frustration hit its zenith, and she began to leave. But Aisha stopped her, directing her gaze to something in the sky. Obscured by the sun's light, it soon became visible to their happy and shocked eyes. As if escaping from the belly of the sun, Daisy flew down to meet her family with a smile.

"Sorry for being a little late, guys!"

Teary-eyed, the family dashed toward Daisy as she dismounted. They hugged each other with an unyielding grip, falling to their knees. As Mary kissed Daisy's forehead, their love and relief overflowed as Belle and Aisha balled their eyes out. A happy family reunited in peace after the trials of war!