Two figures stumbled through a shimmering portal, vigorously rubbing themselves to stave off frostbite.

Rez narrowly escaped flash-freezing in that hellish plane thanks to Lizzy's quick-wittedness and spell-casting ability. However, the sweet green home she was expecting to return to was nowhere in sight. Frost splintered the turf that once held beautiful greens the color of her mother's hair, all while hissing magma cooled in obsidian craters. Within that scene was a torrent of energy so powerful that the buzz of static assaulting her eardrums drowned out the anguished cries of her friends.

She shouted their names, unable to hear their familiarity on her own tongue. Sean and Bip cradled themselves as agony ripped through them, short black hair whipping around. Rez tried extending tendrils of mana to stop her friends from fracturing, but she herself was drained dry. Collapsing in front of the little girl she considered to be her younger sister, she pleaded.

"Agatha, stay together."

The Primal Node was the color of darkest night. The power shimmering off it whipped the surroundings raucously.

Lizzy caught the scruff of someone hobbling away. It was Speaker Connie.

"What happened? Where is the Queen?"

"Let go. Let go!"

Connie tore away, hobbling to find safety. Lizzy let her go, tearing her eyes away back to search for her Queen. There's no way she would let things get this bad. That means the only place Queen Eliza could be was at the center of this disaster!

Rez felt power fill her. Every ounce of magic she had lost was replaced with the purest form of energy. Lizzy's eyes were already glued to the back of her beloved.

"What are you going to do?"

Lizzy broke away, saying nothing as she marched past the crippled children and into the world-ending catastrophe. It was too late to save the artifact. The beacon of hope would take the world with it. However, her Queen was there. So that's where she would go.

Braving the mana storm, Lizzy could see the shimmering outline of a figure. Her back was sturdy. Pink hair fluttering chaotically.

The storm carried the Queen's apology.

"I'm sorry."

A thrum of ebony energy thrashed the surroundings, crashing through the craggy ceiling. The Dark Node floated ominously, lifting higher into the air and moving past a reachable height. When it reached the epicenter of the former sanctuary, a beam of dark light rocketed into the air and broke past any remaining barriers.

The sky opened up.

The clouds broke apart.

Dark night overtook the world.

The Day Darkened.

Down below, Lizzy watched her Queen turn around.

"My Queen."

Her bright pink hair lost color, infected with ink.

"Eliza Oirel."

The Queen's eyes lost their shimmer and drowned in darkness.

"Ellie, my love."

As the world around them ended and the Queen became Manaless, Lizzy bent her knee.

"Marry me."

=

"Fate is a fickle bitch who doesn't like to be tickled."

"That sounds incredibly crude, master."

"If you don't tie her up, she'll get the better of you."

Weyn Sostro watched the fight playing out beside her master. He seemed to be taking the entire scene in all at once. It was the second time her master appeared as if he was ancient and timeless.

Behind them, the country's soldiers were pouring out from a massive portal. They lined up in standard formation, ready to deploy at a moment's notice. Eyes transfixed on the anomaly in the sky.

Reiss grumbled.

"So that's where the title comes from."

Weyn stepped up to Reiss' right and pointed a hand towards a hobbling figure.

"Someone's approaching."

Reiss waved a dismissive hand.

"That's just Connie."

The hysterical woman hobbled through the ranks as if they weren't there, babbling like a baby. Several Elden soldiers glanced at each other asking themselves if it was their problem.

Meanwhile, Reiss contemplated as the Dark Node lashed out at the surroundings, tearing apart the Quarry walls while two peak Elden combatants fought a battle to the death in its center.

"Weyn, answer me this."

Despite having arrived in Elden months before the disaster and drastically changing the future... Somehow, things were playing out exactly as they had in every previous iteration.

"I've been more rich in Time than most mortals can dream of. Even still, Fate, the crude shrew, attempts to make the Time I've spent preventing tragedies such as these utterly worthless. So, answer me this, Weyn. To a being whose Time is unending, what is the most valuable currency?"

Weyn looked up at the mass of swirling destruction, wishing she had the ability required to stop it.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"...Is it not Power, Master?

Reiss smirked as if a barren tree blooming in the tundra.

Regretfully, Weyn watched her master walk away, not bothering to tell her she was wrong.

He paced forward, walking on the air, lording over the quarry. He waved his hand, and a group of children landed at Weyn's feet. They were all terribly injured and on the verge of mana collapse. She called over the mages to help stabilize them and ordered the rest of the soldiers to evacuate any civilians and capture all who resisted. By the time she turned around, the battle had escalated and Reiss the Timekeeper was nowhere to be found.

=

Lizzy back-skated across the icy ground as if Jack Frost himself was leading the way. Lower half bobbing from side to side, her arms wielded twin icicle sabers, batting away the fireballs coming her way. Her other half, Queen Eliza, sprinted forward, propelled at the speed of a hover boat with rocket boosters. Lizzy twirled into the Eben town square, dancing among the rock garden; Ellie's continued onslaught incinerated the carefully placed stones.

Lizzy froze the sand, gathering it into snowy crystals, and had it shield her from a spout of black fire. Vision obstructed, Lizzy was a millisecond late in parrying Ellie's kick. She was lifted and tossed through the air, flying into the tavern and back out again. Lizzy landed on her feet next to a startled Eben innkeeper.

Her beloved marched like a raging black bull, seeing only red.

"If that's all you've got, then you should just accept my marriage proposal now!"

Lizzy's smirking taunt had little effect on the already consumed Elden Queen. Still, she smiled, even as Ellie's regal nose brushed against hers. The rhinoceros-level impact rocked Lizzy's skull as she was lifted from the dirt. Held up by the neck, bloody nose uncorked, Lizzy laughed.

"You got it all wrong... Ellie. We kiss after your defeat."

Lizzy twisted in Ellie's grip and kicked her fiancé in the face. Ellie threw a hook. Lizzy dodged and countered. Twelve body blows enhanced with only the best magic. All it took was a single return punch to steal Lizzy's breath from her lungs. Doubled over; Lizzy saw Ellie's maul be recalled to her waiting hands.

"I was wondering where that went."

Lizzy slipped into the ground as it came swinging for her head. Obscured, she had a second to soothe her throbbing head. In the next, she jumped out like a jack rabbit, twisting in the air to deflect Ellie's ground smash with newly summoned sabers. They exchanged a few blows until Lizzy stopped trying to compete in terms of power.

Taking the brunt of the hit on her crossed weapons, she let herself be propelled into a nearby dwelling. Prioritizing speed enhancements, Lizzy bounced between the residences.

The first was empty. Ellie smashed through it like a ram. Lizzy used a few vine whips on the furniture as a distraction before leaping out of the sparse abode and into the next. Since this one was occupied, Lizzy was forced to juggle a pair of oblivious elderly as she avoided the continuous onslaught. Tossing them back onto the dining table, Lizzy leaped out the window and onto the neighbor's roof. There, powered with lightning, Lizzy avoided each blow, and her every punch and kick was a thunderstrike that rang out like wedding bells in the apocalypse.

The soldiers, mages, and even Weyn stopped everything they were doing to witness this fight. This... duel. It was unlike anything they ever imagined. There was nothing overly fancy. No meteor storms. No giant flowers spewing magic. It was as if the two women broke each other down using nothing but their battle experience and key enhancements.

During it all... During the dark cataclysm... During Queen Eliza's rampaging descent into eventual death... Lizzy seemed to be having the time of her life.

"Don't worry, babe. It's just a phase."

Lizzy took a punch on the chin with gusto.

"We all dyed our hair at one point; you'll grow out of it."

Eli's remaining ivory armor cracked inwared with a sonic boom.

"Worried I'll bite? You know I will."

Blood dribbled into Lizzy's eye and down her canines.

Lizzy fought for Ellie's weapon while sending a kick straight into the Queen's stomach. Wrenching the maul away, she banished it. They exchanged at least fifty blows before two women broke apart, reassuming fighting stances.

The brief lull in the fight was enough for Rez to remember to breathe. Even with her attention split five different ways in an attempt to heal her friends, a small part of her couldn't look away no matter what. It was the same with the other Eben Residents. At their core, they were cultivators and magic practitioners despite their condition. The chance to observe two peak fighters go all out was irresistible.

Blood dripped off Ellie's knuckles. Her black hair billowed outward like a nightmare.

Lizzy's right arm didn't raise despite its order to do so. The fingers were all broken.

"Haha... hey, babe."

"..."

"We have a serious problem."

"..."

"I'm all out of one-liners."

Queen Eliza crossed the distant in an instant and punched straight into Lizzy's face. The blow connected, a loud whoosh sound as air was displaced behind Lizzy, but there was no follow-up. Instead, Lizzy grabbed Ellie's arm, and pulled her in for a hug.

They teleported.

Seven Miles above the Eben Quarry, the chaos was just a blip on the swamp-like landscape below. The only sound remaining was the wind whistling past the two Eldens as they fell and Queen Eliza's grunts as she tried to escape Lizzy's grasp. No matter how hard she punched, Lizzy wouldn't let go. Despite the welts quickly appearing on her skin, she wouldn't let go. They spun uncontrollably, plummeting towards the ground below.

Lizzy focused all her mana on repairing, Eliza's leylines. They were so thick and viscous that they oozed like pus pouring out from the thin lines across her skin.

"I know I'm always ruining things."

It took all she had to heal Eliza. Lizzy could feel her own mana disappearing and reaching dangerously low. Her fluorescent purple hair faded to a dim violet and then to a darker navy blue color.

"Whether it's relations between the nations, or washing your underwear with mine."

A desperate punch made her lose consciousness for a brief second. Lizzy immediately clutched extra hard, ignoring the biting pain in her side and Eliza's incessant struggles to break free. Not sparing a drop, she poured every ounce of mana she had into healing Eliza. Lizzy's hair briefly matched that of the deep blue sky around them before becoming a muddied brown and fading to black. The Dark Node reflected them both now as they plunged past it. Lizzy's leylines started to bleed, but she could finally see a speck of pink color flicker in Eliza's eyes.

"You can kick me away all you want! Fight it all you want! You're mine!"

They tumbled down like a star, shot from the sky. They crashed helplessly into the rock garden below, dispersing anything that remained.

From the dust, two figures groggily got to their feet. Swaying. Grunting. Angry. Wild and Mana starved, black tendrils whipped off both of them as their bodies creaked under strain. There was no light behind their eyes, only empty madness.

*Konk*

Their heads banged together, and their normal hair colors returned. Lucidity returned like it had never left as they both clutched their heads in agony.

"Ding ding, bitches. I'm the winner. Now kiss and make up."

Lizzy scowled harshly at the smug Riess. She looked abashed at Eliza, unable to look her in the eyes. She lost again.

Eliza clutched her head like a businesswoman with the worst after-party hangover.

"Worst. Proposal. Ever. Of all time."

"I knew it. Was it my breath? I had guava roots for breakfast."

Eliza smacked Lizzy upside the head. The next thing Lizzy knew was the feeling of melting under a kiss. Then there was a strange feeling as strands of hair were tied around her wrist. Opening her eyes, she saw that Eliza had cut a short length of pink hair and used it to bind her wrist. The tradition struck Lizzy's heart like a freight train as tears started to well up.

Ellie's pink eyes laughed, and they kissed again.

Reiss looked away from the newly married couple. Fixing the two of them hadn't taken much, but that thing floating in the sky?

Well... a battery's a battery. Better for everyone if it's charged.

Reiss flicked his finger.

The chaos stopped. The black tendrils vanished. The loose rocks and debris settled as the wind held its breath in disbelief. Everyone stared in shock at the pristine white Primal Node humming a pleasant tune in the sky. It stood in place obediently like a sleepy puppy.

"Hm. I could use one of those.."

[Colorful Pairing]

The Node Shuddered. Eyes bulged, and jaws hung ajar as everyone witnessed the Node duplicate and divide like a cell undergoing mitosis. The image seemed to shimmer and resist as if the laws of the universe were bending to allow the impossible action.

And then there were two.

Two Primal Nodes were drifting in the sky.

Reiss, the madman, seemed off-put.

"That was more difficult than I thought."

Lizzy started to curse up a storm but was held back by her wife as Reiss flew up to the original Node. He knocked on it twice. The surface shimmered, singing a melodic tune.

A small doorway opened. A short set of stairs awaited him.

Reiss shrugged his shoulders.

This is as good a place as any.