Polyetta walked toward the group with a cold expression on her face. Despite the empty attitude she tried to keep, a single tear flew from her face.

"There's no way back now. Neige, everyone... I'm sorry."

In a flash, Polyetta rushed toward Neige and attacked him with her sword. Neige managed to block the hit but Ada was ejected from his body in a single strike, rendering her unconscious. The three friends turned toward the nun, lying on the ground before them. Neige suddenly felt heavier, his clothes were back and not an ounce of Ada's presence was in him.

"I'll take care of her once we're over."

"You won't stop us this time!" Yelled Silva "This time, we'll bring our universe back!"

Polyetta shook her head slowly and snapped her finger, freezing the three friends in their tracks.

"I'm the ruler of this new world, I can make anyone obey-"

To the woman's surprise, Silva managed to break free of her control. She violently punched Polyetta and gave her a smug smirk.

"That's is? I could beat Gods like you easily."

"How did you!? I thought I knew how to use the book to its full extent!"

"That's your problem, you only think about this stupid book. Now come fight me like a man!"

"Silva... I really shouldn't have let Neige raise you by himself..."

The woman took her sword and was ready to face Silva. The blind girl rushed at her former leader and tried to kick her with force. Polyetta quickly noticed that Silva was aiming for the book and managed to block all of Silva's hits with grace. Neige and Sepide were both still frozen over their former leader's control while Silva tried her best to beat the woman in the hope of freeing her friends.

"Silva, don't you remember everything that happened to you? Your parents... They treated you so badly that you even considered ending your life, do you want others to take the same path?"

"I'd rather die being myself than live as someone else. What did you do when I needed help? You only talk about it now because it's the easy way out. Your new universe is just a joke, made only because you're too cowardly to improve your life!"

"I'm not a coward... I want to help everyone in their lives, I want them to find peace..."

"That wasn't us, only convincing puppets that acted like us."

Polyetta prepared herself for another attack, she stayed focused until a drop of water fell on her hand. She looked at the sky with confusion only to see the drops of water multiplying in the sky.

"Rain? How is it possible? It was supposed to be a calm night..."

Silva took this opportunity to attack her former leader. Polyetta managed to block the girl's attack, not without being hurt a bit. Silva took her firearm in hand and aimed directly at the woman's head. The sound of the rain didn't bother her, only calming her she was about to take her shot. The bullet landed on the woman's head, Silva thought for a moment it was over but the only thing that was damaged was the woman's mask, which revealed a part of her face and her left eye full of sadness.

"Silva, you can't stop perfection. My world will come to life, whether you want it or not. It's not because you have the strength to strive that everyone does."

"Then we'll give them strength."

Polyetta turned around when she heard Neige's voice. She thought he was in a frozen but now had to block a hit from his dagger.

"Neige!? How are you..."

"I couldn't let Silva do everything alone. You're my friend Polyetta, and I'll bring you back to the right path."

The woman gripped her sword tightly before trying to hit her friend. Neige managed to easily dodge the hit and attacked back Polyetta, who managed to block the hit. Silva was going to help him but was instead stopped by the same golden goo from earlier, preventing her from doing so. Neige managed to keep up with Polyetta's speed, but even he couldn't last forever. The woman managed to kick him away, leaving Neige on the ground in pain.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Neige... You always wanted to save everyone, what happened? The only thing you wanted was to be a hero, and now, you're opposing humanity's yearning for peace..."

"That's not what humanity wants, they want to live a life away from troubles it's true, but not to the cost of their freedom. I know you don't want it either Polyetta, I'll bring you back to reality!"

Polyetta was ready for another attack but instead flinched when she felt something on her face. A snowflake found its way to her, in this world where there wasn't even a cloud.

"You're ruining everything... It was supposed to be perfect!"

Neige took his dagger in hand and clashed with Polyetta's sword. The two friends stared at each other in the eyes, trying their best to make the other fall. Neige pushed as hard as he could but Polyetta was much stronger. In a desperate attempt, Neige dropped his dagger and tried to do an uppercut on the woman. The sword slashed a large part of his torse while the woman ended up on the ground, letting her book drop farther away. She immediately stood up, thorned between her friend and the diary.

"Neige! Why did you do that!? It was so dangerous!"

"I needed to stop you... Polyetta... It's not too late..."

The woman walked toward the book and took it in her hand. Silva was busy, Sepide was still frozen, and Neige lying on the ground, unable to move further.

"You did much more than I expected, but there's nothing you could have done. I won."

"No..."

Polyetta opened the book and took her pen, ready to write in it one last time.

Sepide opened her eyes, she was lying on a comfy bed and looked around the room full of pink and plushes. The girl stepped out of the bed only to see a table and two chairs in the middle of the room, with a little girl sitting on one of the chairs. She pointed at the other chair, inviting Sepide to sit with her. After a bit of hesitation, Sepide accepted and sat in front of the girl, still unsure about what was happening. The girl poured a cup of tea and handed it to Sepide with a smile.

"How many sugar cubes?"

"One." Sepide said with uncertainty, she had never drunk tea before and had no idea how much she was supposed to take.

"Sepide... Finally, we meet."

"Wait, are you... Opal?"

The girl nodded with a soft smile on her face.

"Yes, I used to be the tournament organizer. It feels like so long ago, so much happened since." The girl sipped her tea before continuing "Sepide, thanks for helping Silva and Neige. I may be the Goddess, but I never planned for you to even exist. Your case is quite special, but I still love you like every one of my children."

"The... Goddess?"

"I know, I didn't do much... Yada, Ada... They both caused so much trouble, all I wanted was a perfect friend for Neige. Sepide, can you please help us? You are our last hope, I beg of you, bring the universe back and keep on living with your friends."

"I'm not sure I understand everything, but I already planned to do it."

Opal smiled at Sepide before taking another sip of her cup.

"You have a bright future waiting for you. You have within you the strength to change the universe, I'll help you but it's all I can do."

"You'll help me? How?"

"You'll see later. I'm proud of you Sepide, you did great. Please, correct the mistakes I made, give everyone the ending they deserve."

Sepide's eyes suddenly felt heavy. The girl closed her eyes as Opal's voice grew more distant. She wasn't sure why, but she trusted Opal with everything in her body.

Polyetta was writing in her book but was suddenly stopped by a bullet flying at her. The woman closed the book and faced Sepide, already knowing she was the culprit.

"Sepide... So you woke up... You should sleep, this is your new mission, do you understand?"

Sepide suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head as her creator took the book back in her hand. Neige and Silva's voice couldn't reach her, the only thing that filled her head was the woman's order, echoing again and again in her head. But even despite that, even despite the sentence repeating, Sepide still managed to hold on.

"You're still resisting? I'll just write in the book directly, 'Sepide fell asleep and had sweet dreams', isn't it better than feeling this pain?"

Polyetta wrote the words in the book but looked increasingly worried as Sepide kept resisting.

"Sepide? It's an order from Fate, how can you even resist it? You'll hurt yourself!"

"No... I won't... Agree..."

Sepide held her hand against her head, using all the memories she made to keep on going. The night suddenly let place to a shining sunrise, surprising everyone in the world.

"I'm not... Fate's puppet! It doesn't matter... How much it hurts... How much I have to suffer... All I want is..."

Sepide stepped toward her creator, visibly in pain. Her heart was racing, her whole body was sweating, and the taste of blood filled her mouth. And yet, none of that managed to stop her. Polyetta kept staring at the pages of the book, confused as to why Sepide was still standing.

"I'll just recreate you later, you're clearly suffering."

Polyetta erased Sepide from the book, even despite the two friends' attempts to stop her. The woman expected Sepide to disappear, but she was for some reason still standing.

"How..? How!? You can't go against a Divine order! I created you! You were supposed to obey me! We were supposed to stand next to each other in this new world!"

"I'm sorry Mother... I'm not a child anymore... All I want is a future... A future with my friends."

Sepide took the white orb she kept in her pocket. The ball shined brightly, blinding everyone for a few seconds. When they could open their eyes again, they could see that the orb in Sepide's hand became a sword, very similar to the one Polyetta was using. Despite the visible weight of the sword, Sepide easily pointed it at her former leader with one hand, challenging her directly.

"I will be more than a puppet, I'll never be just your doll!"