PHASE 95 - FLAMES OF A CANDLE

As Tiara fell down to the ground, her nine silver tails evaporated into thin air, making Aeternos free once again. Now, the heavily armored man is walking towards me.

“...Tia...ra…” I muttered.

Hopelessness and madness clouded on my consciousness. I was so astounded that I can’t decide what to do: To fight or to flee. I still have the unconscious Amy in my arm, and Tiara’s body is just in front of Aeternos. My legs won’t move.

“DESPAIR IS THE ONLY WAY FOR THE PROPHET KING!!!” Aeternos proclaimed loudly.

Enraged, all other Gate Guardians besides us cast their long-range spells! There are ten archers, twelve gunners, and one bazooka wielder that unleashed small meteors, rapid homing missiles, and lightning boulders! Aeternos didn’t even make any slightest effort to evade those attacks. He’s confident that his platinum armor can withstand any assault. After the explosions, he revealed himself, fully unscratched.

“!!!” A gigantic spear of ice went directly to the enemy, but all it just did was to push him several meters back.

The one who cast the spell is Lord Neptune in woman’s body. She’s wearing an ocean blue cloak with a hood, and she’s a beautiful blonde with sky blue eyes. She has a diamond crystal on her forehead, which matches the jewel on her staff.

Lord Neptune kept on spamming her ice spells to the enemy, which made Aeternos occupied for a while.

<>

Having my hand full, I used my teeth to drag Tiara’s collar and unleashed all my remaining strength to run away from the battle scene.

“Hnnngh!”

When I finally reached a safe distance, I looked at the unconscious Amy and shook her while casting a . Thankfully, she woke up, albeit she’s now as weak as a person who just woke up in a coma. She held her forehead and blinked fast to regain her vision.

“Tiara! Tiara!” Ayano cried as she gently slapped her fellow shrine maiden’s cheeks. “Wake up!”

Tiara still had her eyes open, but it’s empty. She’s still breathing and there’s still a pulse, but she won’t respond to anything we do. There isn’t even a fatal wound on her. It’s like… she's now a breathing ragdoll.

It seems like her soul… is no longer on her body.

“...Tiara…” I slowly held her cold hands and put it to my wet cheeks. “...Please wake up… please… I… I’ll treat you to an eat-all-you-can buffet at Christmas... So please...wake up...”

All the Aether Crusade flocked around us, circling the dead shrine maiden.

Her form right now is so pitiful.

She died right in front of my eyes just after professing her love to me!

Is… Is this really how it ends?

She sacrificed seven million lifetimes just to die like this!?

The worst part about her sacrifice is that she knows how it will all end. She knew that we are never meant to be with one another. She wished to change our fates, but she can’t. She kept on thinking “If I tried hard enough, I can change this.” only realizing in the end that she can’t. All for the sake of my love.

I…

… I can’t accept it!

I still have to return all the favor… all the sacrifices she made for me!

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“Tiara…” I held her hand tight as I put it on my heart. I inhaled as much air as I can, and then released it in one go.

“Tiara… I love you too...”

...

Right.

I know that deep inside my heart and soul, she is the one I truly love. She was there for several lifetimes and she never left me. She tried to save me over and over even though she knew that it will yield to a doomed result. She absorbed all my hatred, but she never hated me for it.

Her adorable smile, her cute puppy eyes, her silky smooth hair, her delicate face. All of those are just secondary reasons why I fell in love with her.

And… the main reason is that she loved me more than anything else in this universe.

This might be some sort of weird fairy tale where the prince fell in love with the witch.

A single droplet of my tears fell to her hand. And then suddenly, I felt some kind of warmth.

It was the hand of Amy, who had her hand wrapped in mine and Tiara’s. It was glowing with a dazzling golden light. When I glanced at my childhood friend, she made an adorable and genuine smile.

“I’ll handle this, Ric. So please stay back.”

I withdrew my hand and crawled two steps away as I watched my childhood friend create a miracle.

“By the power of my , I command you, Tiara Hikari, to a fragment of my soul!”

Rainbow streams of light were released from the two’s holding hands!

There was a blinding flash!

When the light faded, a golden transparent aura coated the shrine maiden’s body. Tiara’s irises slowly began to regain color, stating that the soul assimilation is successful and complete.

Tiara finally blinked.

“...Necchan…?”

“Tiara!” Amy immediately hugged Tiara so tight as she cried. “Don’t you dare die in front of your love! Stop volunteering on always drawing the shortest stick! Don’t you dare to confess your feelings before you die, you dumbass moronic foolish stupid idiot!”

“...Necchan!” Tiara cried with tears of joy. “...You-”

“Shut up! You won our love war, so don't die like that ever again! You'll make Ric sad!” Amy’s tone is not angry, but passionate.

“...Thank you… Necchan… For saving me…”

Tiara then gazed upon our smiling faces. When she saw my charming smirk, Tiara’s cheeks slightly blushed.

I am glad that Tiara is back from the dead, but I’m bothered by one small detail. Her eyes are no longer golden brown; it’s now sky blue. And there’s a golden rim surrounding her irises, which gives a faint glow.

<>

Suddenly, flashbacks entered my aching brain.

It was an image of her inside the burning shrine. I’m holding Tiara’s hand as her light cobalt eyes stare at me with happiness, even though her lower body has been crushed by a giant burning debris. It’s like the scene from the very first timeline…

Were her eyes really blue back then?

<>

“Ric, are you okay?”

“...I-I’m fine,” I said. “What about you? You just gave Tiara your soul, aren’t you?”

“A half only.”

“How is that even possible?”

“You know, human souls are like flames, and the candle itself is our body. I merely forced Tiara to absorb a part of my soul so that she can put an ember on her candle. After the ‘soul-sharing’ has been completed, the soul can grow all by itself, as long as it has a body.”

All of us “Oooooooooooh”-ed in amazement.

<>

The battle is far from over. There are Cursed Guardians and Gate Guardians fighting everywhere in this venue. Sword clashes, loud gunshots, and explosions echoed around theses snowy plains. On the far side of the foot of the mountain is Aeternos battling Lord Neptune. But the enemy is getting the upper hand in this battle.

Lord Neptune’s mouth has been releasing thin smoke as she pants in this freezing field. She almost depleted all her mana by spamming all the spells she knew, but nothing worked on the thick armor of the Cursed Guardian Boss.

“ARE YOU DONE, LEGIONMASTER OF THE BLACK CROSS?!”

“...I... I can’t believe it. This battle is hopeless. It’s like you’re just playing with me…” Lord Neptune cried. “But I still have this one last trump card!”

Lord Neptune raised her staff, and it glowed with a dazzling light! “!!!”

Suddenly, a gigantic ice meteor materialized from the skies! It was so huge that it has a size of a jumbo aircraft carrier! Anyone who would catch that attack would be splat!

But not Aeternos. He is hiding an ace on his sleeve. “”

Aeternos’ left hand glowed as ice crystals wrapped around it. He made a squat, and then jumped with an impossible velocity and height! His leg power was so mighty that it left a mini-tornado from the ground!

Aeternos made a full power punch on the ice meteor, and it was shattered to a trillion pieces! An infinite number of snowflakes and particles danced around the area.

“I-It can’t be…” Lord Neptune fell to her knees as she reverted to her base form, the leader of the Black Cross which is Sister Amanda Cryst. Her only difference from her God form from her normal one is her outfit. She’s now wearing a black nun’s apparel right now.

“!!!” Aeternos unleashed a gigantic snowflake straight to the nun! And it was a direct hit!

As Aeternos landed, several Gate Guardians made their way in front to defend the frozen Legionmaster. There may be around sixty of Gate Guardians right now, but Aeternos remained to be unfazed.

He just swiped his right arm, and the Gate Guardians flew off.

Then Aeternos walked his way to the frozen sister and then shattered her to hundred pieces as he slammed his sword to her.

Seeing that our leader has been defeated, we all realized one thing.

All hope is lost.