It had been one week since the fight had happened. Aria and Steven had no idea what had happened after they had been knocked unconscious. By the time they had woken up, both Finite and Lilith had both disappeared, but that was just the beginning of what they found confusing. When they woke up, they found themselves in the flower garden of Centiria along with Ren, who was unconscious. The two questioned what they should do, but upon seeing that the sky island had begun floating away they decided that it would be best to follow it. They needed to find a way to get up there so they could defeat Tye. The problem is that Ren has been in a coma ever since that fight and they didn’t know the whereabouts of Lilith nor Finite.

Steven walked out of the hotel’s door. They had gotten a room for Ren since he showed no signs of waking up soon. Aria was waiting for him on a bench outside of the hotel. Aria stood up as soon as Steven walked out of the door.

“So, where should we start?” Aria asked. Steven looked up at the floating island in the sky.

“There’s not much we can do,” he replied, “it’s not showing any sign of landing anytime soon, nor is it close enough to the ground to get on it.”

“I don’t think they plan on landing it at all. Despite only being about one hundred feet above the ground, they’re untouchable from up there. That island will probably continue to fly all over the empire without ever giving us a chance to get on.”

“Damn. We’ve chased it all the way to Averaelia but there’s still no way to get on.” Steven showed a brief moment of anger as he clenched his fists then returned to his normal, stoic self. “I don’t suppose you have any idea of how we could fly?”

“Hmmm.” Aria thought about it for a second. “Oh! What about rebels? If they have powers, they might have the power of flight!”

“That’s probably our only hope. I don’t see any other possibility that leads to us getting to that tower, but the possibility that there’s a rebel that’s alive and has the power of flight needed to take us up there is incredibly small. Even so, it’s our only chance, so let’s take a look around the city.”

“What should we be looking for?”

“Any suspicious activity at all. Anyone you think might be a rebel. If something catches your eye, we should check it out.”

“That’s not much to go off of…”

“Well, it’s not like the rebels want to be found. If there are rebels that the executioners haven’t found yet then we probably won’t just stumble across them either. The only information we can use to find them is based on our observations.”

“So where should we start looking? Anywhere you think would be more likely to house rebels?”

“Well it’s not like I know the layout of this city or anything. Apart from the giant castle sitting in the middle of it, I have no idea what this city is like at all.” In the middle of Averaelia is the castle of the old royalty, the same royalty that was killed by Tye one whole year ago. “Today’s the day, isn’t it? One whole year…”

“Yeah, it has been a whole year now, hasn’t it? Since Tye and the executioners came down from the sky and murdered the whole royal family, and if what Ren said is true, then that’s also the day this world was created.”

“Yeah, but we shouldn’t dwell on that too much. We need to find someone with the ability to get us to that tower.” Aria agreed by nodding her head. Steven led the way down the street even though he had no idea where he was going.

“Have you ever been to Averaelia, Aria?” Steven asked, hoping Aria could take over the lead.

“Well I did come here once as a knight, but I wouldn’t say I’m that familiar with this city at all.”

“So you wouldn’t know any popular spots that people might hang around?”

“Nope!” Steven couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with Aria’s response as he continued to lead the way down the street, walking towards the castle. As they were walking, more and more people began to walk past them. Some of the people were even sprinting past them as if their lives depended on it. Steven questioned why people were running. He turned around to look at where they had come from, but there was nothing there to cause any alarm. He turned back and could see that there was a large group of people standing in the road ahead. The two approached the large group of people and witnessed them all excitedly waiting in anticipation for something.

“What the hell is going on?” Steven questioned. A voice from behind Steven answered him.

“These people are here to attempt to pull the sword from the stone.” Steven and Aria both turned around to see a figure hidden underneath a battered hood. Steven could tell from the figure’s voice that it was a girl who was speaking.

“Sword in the stone?” Steven questioned.

“Yes,” the hooded girl began, “the sword has been said to have been in that stone since the creation of this world. The legend, passed down since through centuries, is that the person who draws that sword will become the true ruler of the empire.”

“I see,” Aria replied, “so all of these people just want to be called the new emperor, am I right? Pretty foolish to think that some sword will just give them the power to overthrow Tye and his executioners.”

“It’s not foolish at all!” The girl yelled back but quickly became embarrassed for raising her voice. “Ah, I-I’m sorry for yelling. It’s just that the sword has been said to be very powerful, like a sort of immortality, so I think it’s wrong to underestimate the sword’s power...” Steven thought to himself that it was weird for Tye to have created something so powerful in his own world. Was it just contradictory like Ren believed things in this world to be? Steven couldn’t just believe that Tye had put such a sword with the potential to destroy his own world in the hands of some random person who managed to pull out the sword. There had to be a catch. The sword couldn’t actually be that powerful… but it were… then they should attempt to take the sword for themselves, shouldn’t they?

“All right. We’re going to try to pull the sword from the stone.” Steven stated.

“Eh?” Aria replied in shock, “But, Steven! We have other things to do!”

“A sword with some kind of strong power cannot be ignored. If there is only one person who can pull the sword from the stone, it might be one of us. Let’s try.”

Steven, Aria, and the hooded girl were towards the back of the large group of people so they were one of the last people to get an attempt at pulling the sword out of the stone. The people who had attempted to pull the sword before them had all dispersed, leaving just a few other people along with the three of them. Once there were so few people there, Steven could finally see this sword in the stone. It was sitting there elegantly in the middle of the street, but it wasn’t just any street. The sword was placed in the ground in the middle of the city’s central square, right in front of the castle’s entrance. There wasn’t much that was noteworthy about the city square. It simply connected the road Steven and Aria had walked down to another road and to the castle. The sword was all there was in the middle of the intersection.

Steven was the first of the three to approach the sword. He looked down at it and saw a golden hilt and a shiny silver blade. Sure, it looked as if it could have some divine power, but did it really? Steven grabbed onto the blade and pulled with all of his might but the sword didn’t budge a single bit. Steven gave up quickly since his idea was that if he was the chosen one, then he would pull it with ease. Since this didn’t happen, Steven relinquished his attempt and allowed Aria an attempt. Aria gave much more effort than Steven had. She was so dedicated to her attempts that Steven had to pull her away to allow the hooded girl to make an attempt. The girl appeared to have a thin figure and she was even shorter than Aria was, so Steven didn’t expect for the girl to make a great attempt to pull out the sword. The girl tried her hardest, Steven could see that, but she too failed in the end; however, the girl’s reaction was much different than Steven had expected. She ran off after failing to pull out the sword. Wasn’t that a strange reaction?

“We’re going after her.” Steven said as he launched forward in chase.

“Wait, Steven!” Aria had no time to ask Steven, “Why?” Her only option was to follow after Steven and the girl. The girl was fast. She left very little time for Steven to catch his breath as he raced after her, almost losing her after every corner they turned until he eventually did. He slowly jogged down the road, peering down the alleyways he passed while he looked for the girl. That’s when he came across an alleyway on his right that had a lone girl standing in it. She was facing the other direction and her hood was down, revealing her long, light blue hair.

“Are you all right?” Steven asked the girl as he approached her from behind. The girl turned around and Steven could see the tears streaming down her face. However, her face quickly became one of fright. Steven was thrown aback at her appalled face. He watched as the girl pulled out a short sword from underneath her cloak. “Wait!” Steven yelled as he threw his hands up in front of him, motioning her to stop. The girl continued as she threw a sword strike towards Steven. Aria appeared from behind Steven, her vortex sword in hand, as she blocked the sword that threatened Steven’s life. The girl jumped backwards to get some distance from the two. Aria moved in front of Steven as she pushed him behind her. The girl looked as if she was about to lunge in for another attack.

“Just wait a minute!” Aria exclaimed as the girl launched forward and swung her sword at Aria. Aria moved to block but was surprised to see the girl take one of her hands off her sword and point it at Aria. Steven put a barrier in front of Aria just in time to block the girl’s attack. The girl had fired a magic bolt of light at Aria. So she knew magic? Steven had a good guess how, but there was the possibility of him being wrong… but he had to take the chance.

Before the girl could fire another spell, Steven said quickly, “We’re from the old world!” The girl’s expression lightened as she looked over Aria’s shoulder at Steven.

“Really?” She questioned. The girl stood there, frozen in place by Steven’s words. Aria turned around to face Steven.

“Why’d you say that? If she knows magic she could be a knight.” Aria said.

“But, judging from your reaction, that’s not true, is it?” Steven asked, looking at the girl for an answer. The girl was startled by Steven’s gaze and began to stutter as she answered.

“Y-Yes, I-I am indeed, from the original world.”

“So I was right then.” Steven said with a grin.

“Hmph! Being right doesn’t make you right!” Aria said with confidence. Steven ignored her and looked back at the girl of whom he could now see clearly… well, not exactly clearly. Her face was almost entirely covered by her long blue bangs so while they could now see her face, they could only see some of it.

“So, what’s your name? Mine’s Steven. Steven Alystia, and this is--”

“Aria Orion. It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

“My name… is Kotori Averaelia…” she said quietly.

“Averaelia?” Steven questioned. That’s the name of the city they’re in, so is she somehow related?

“Averaelia!” Aria exclaimed.

“Shh! Don’t be too loud! No one else can hear about me…” Kotori explained quietly.

“Averaelia, as in Averaelia the city?” Steven questioned.

“Averaelia as in the city, yes, but that’s because the city was named after the royal family. That means she’s royalty!” Aria explained.

“Yes… I am, or was, the princess of this empire.” Kotori stated. Steven thought about this for a second. In this world, his village was destroyed by the executioners because of a rumor about a surviving member of the royal family living nearby… so was she the cause? The reason the people in his village died? Steven’s gaze drifted away from Kotori as she continued speaking, “One year ago today, that man and his minions descended upon the castle, killing everyone -- citizen, those of royal blood, servants, knights, anyone they could find -- they killed them all. Tye began his attack by walking straight through the front gate. I watched from one of the nearby towers as the knights ran in to defend, but they couldn’t touch him… upon reaching him… their bodies were flung into the air by some unseen force… and they were disfigured. The head knight ran up the stairs and told me that we needed to get to safety, so I agreed and we began to flee the castle. I was the lucky one, because I was so far away from the throne room that day… as for my relatives… most of them were in there when Tye murdered everyone in the room, but I was so far away that the most we were going to run into was one of his executioners -- and we did. Before us stood a knight clad in lustrous black armor...”

“Who are you!” The head knight yelled at the enemy standing in front of him as he held his left arm out in front of Kotori.

“I am your Slumber. That’s all you need to know, for you will soon be dead.” Slumber drew his sword and pointed it towards the head knight.

“Princess! You must flee from here!” The head knight turned around to look at her. “I’ll create an opportunity and you’ll --”

“No. I forbid the girl from leaving here.” Slumber interrupted.

“What?!”

“The girl will not leave… unless you can best me in a duel…”

“A duel? Are you crazy! Why would I agree to such a formal act with someone who has come here to kill the Averaelias?”

“You will agree, for that is the only way to give the girl a chance to live.” The head knight glanced back at Kotori as she looked up to him with her innocent face. The head knight smiled at her and had found the confidence he needed to fight.

“All right…” The head knight gave in to Slumber’s demand. “If that’s the only way for her to live, then so be it!” The head knight lunged forward and engaged Slumber in a flurry of strikes. Slumber remained planted in one spot as he deflected all of the head knight’s lightning fast strikes. After seeing that just his sword wasn’t going to do the trick, the head knight jumped away from Slumber and attempted to cast a spell. “Fire dragon!” he yelled as he held up his hand towards Slumber, but as he was saying this spell Slumber had also raised his hand and said something in response.

“No magic allowed,” was what Slumber said as he snapped his fingers. The fire that had begun to appear in the knight’s hand was snuffed out and disappeared.

“What?” the knight asked in response to seeing his spell fail to activate, but his eyes should’ve been on Slumber. Slumber lunged from his spot while the knight had taken a moment to look at his hand. Slumber’s sword sliced through the knight’s lateral, leaving the knight to fall over in two pieces. Kotori could do nothing but stare at the knight’s body in horror as Slumber turned his head towards her.

“And then?” Aria questioned.

“A feeling came over me, like I knew there was something I could do, but… I didn’t need to do anything.” Kotori replied.

“What? What do you mean?” Aria inquired, but Kotori averted her eyes as she reflected on the memory.

“I was told I could go…”

“Really? The executioner just let you go?” Kotori nodded her head in response.

“Then? Where did you flee to?” Steven interjected.

“After escaping the castle, I fled through the city streets without running into any other trouble.” Kotori said, “I was successfully able to leave the city and flee to a city in the west.” Those were the words Steven needed to hear to confirm his thoughts. The reason everyone in his village died… was because she was there. The executioners had hunted her down and slaughtered everyone in the village in the process. Of course, Steven knew it wasn’t the girl who had caused their deaths, but it was her presence that led the executioners to the village. Steven couldn’t help but question her reason to flee to a village. Why couldn’t she have just fled to a place where she could hide alone like he had done? That way, no lives would’ve been endangered.

“That must’ve been tough.” Aria consoled her.

“Yeah, but all of the villagers were nice to me… until…” Kotori’s eyes wandered to Steven. “Say… have we… met before?” Kotori asked. Steven turned away from her as he responded.

“Not that I can recall.” That was a lie. Steven also faintly remembered seeing her in the village, but she was hardly ever out socializing so Steven only caught glimpses of her when she came into the town market.

“Oh… I see…” Kotori responded. Perhaps she too remembered Steven from the village. Steven wondered what she was thinking after his response. Did she know that they were the only two who survived the attack on the village? Steven began to walk out of the alleyway and into the street.

“Come on,” he said, “we should get going. We still need to find a way up to--” As Steven exited the alleyway he saw people running down the street. “What? More people attempting to pull out that sword?” Aria emerged from the alleyway and so did Kotori (after pulling her hood up).

Kotori gasped, “That can’t be. They’re running away from the city square!” Kotori ran past Steven, towards the group of rushing people. Steven attempted to tell her to wait but Aria sprinted past him as well. That meant that he had to follow as well. Kotori kept up the same fast pace she had when she had been running away after failing to pull the sword from the stone, making her hard to follow through the city streets. Aria somehow kept sight of her and Steven wasn’t too far behind her so the three made in back to the city square eventually. As Steven caught up to where Kotori and Aria had stopped in their tracks, Steven halted and looked towards where the sword in the stone was supposed to be. The only thing there was Executioner I, Illness, holding the sword in his hands. Illness turned towards the three with a wicked smile that was even bigger than the smile of a kid who just got an ice cream cone.

“Hahaha!” Illness laughed. “Look at this, I just happened to pull on this sword and it came out. Pretty cool, huh? Isn’t this some legendary sword that’s supposed to give someone the power to become ruler? Does that mean I can overthrow Tye! Maybe that’ll teach him for picking up the entire tower and moving it without telling me. I had to take time out of my precious schedule of killing to interrogate some poor citizen and tell me where they had last heard of a ‘floating tower.’ That’s just rude isn’t it? Isn’t it!” Kotori was frozen in fear by the sight of the legendary sword being held by an executioner.

“Tha-That isn’t possible! That s-sword was meant to be the people’s hope! I-It can’t be in the hands of an executioner!” Kotori said in shock.

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“Eh? And why can’t I be the one to hold onto this sword? Why am I the one being singled out? Why can’t this sword be my hope?” Steven walked in front of Kotori and pulled out his sword.

“What are you doing?” Kotori questioned. “That’s a legendary sword in the hands of the executioner with the highest number of kills! You can’t beat him!”

“Being told you can’t do something when it’s something you must do… that’s just wrong, Kotori. The way I see it, if we do nothing -- we die -- so we have to do something. I just choose to do what I know I can do, and that’s to fight.” Aria summoned her vortex sword and earth sword as she stood next to Steven. Kotori, moved by Steven’s words, went to pull out her short sword.

“You three think you can best me! Hahaha!” Illness laughed maniacally. “This wasn’t part of the plan, but I think I’ll just ignore orders and go ahead and kill you three. Isn’t that just fun!” Illness pointed the sword at Steven and said, “Come at me, although you’re so weak you won’t even be a challenge. I’ll kill you then move on to killing the two girls behind you.” Steven gritted his teeth as he listened to Illness’s nonsense. He was beginning to be reminded of Jonathan, and that was the thought that got him pissed off. He threw himself at Illness, picturing him as if he were Jonathan.

Illness easily dodged Steven’s strike by leaping backwards. Steven attempted to strike Illness many more times but Illness dodged each and every strike Steven threw at him with ease.

“Fight me!” Steven yelled. Illness laughed in response.

“Come on, I’m savoring the moment. If I had begun fighting you… you’d already be dead.” Illness smiled at Steven again. Steven continued to picture Illness as if he were Jonathan, causing him to completely lose his cool. He had lectured Ren over his anger and yet… he was going completely against what he had told Ren about remaining calm in a fight. “All three of you will have to fight, or else this won’t get interesting…” Illness looked past Steven at Aria and Kotori.

“Prepare to face death!” Kotori yelled at Illness. Aria was so shocked by Kotori’s sudden aggressiveness that she looked over to her and was surprised again. Kotori had tied her long bangs to the sides of her head, finally revealing her face.

Illness laughed. “I don’t know who you are, but I’ll be sure to give you a quick death!” he yelled as Kotori pointed her right hand at Illness. Illness was caught off guard as he was hit in the back by one of Aria’s blasts of wind. Illness was knocked forward and Steven launched a horizontal strike towards Illness’s stomach. Illness blocked with the legendary sword as light from Kotori caught his eye, but it was too late. Kotori launched a bolt of light at Illness.

“Piercing light!” was the name of the spell she cried out. The bolt of light impaled Illness’s stomach and knocked him away from Steven. Illness dropped the legendary sword as he fell to the ground, clutching the hole in his stomach after the bolt of light that had impaled him had dissipated. Blood spewed from his mouth as he gasped for air. Steven lowered his sword as he stared at Illness.

“Some legendary sword, huh, Illness?” Steven said, provokingly, knowing full well that Illness could no longer attack with the state he was in.

“Y-You--” Illness managed to get out as he coughed up more blood. Steven walked over to him and pointed his sword towards him.

“It’s over.” Steven said, but that only made Illness smile. “Wha--” Illness’s hand moved away from his wound to grab the legendary sword that laid on the ground. Steven had begun to swing his sword as soon as Illness had begun moving but Illness was moving so fast. It was as if Steven himself was slowed. By the time Steven’s sword neared Illness’s head, Illness had the sword in his hand and with it he launched himself into the air above Steven in an instant. Steven put a barrier in between them but it was futile, Illness had struck from behind. How was he attacked from behind? Illness was in front of him wasn’t he?

Steven’s right arm went sailing into the air, sending blood throughout the air as it exploded from Steven’s body. Steven cried out in pain as he fell to his knees, grasping his wound with his left hand. Kotori and Aria stood there in horror. To them as well, it had appeared that Illness was in front of Steven when he was really standing behind him the entire time.

Illness began laughing maniacally. “Your faces! They’re perfect!” he laughed again. “How was I behind him? Wasn’t I in front of him? Well you see, that’s actually all thanks to this sword!”

“What? The sword?” Kotori questioned.

“Yes! The sword created by Tye himself! This sword was made for any executioner to ‘wield when they feel the time has come,’ or so he said. Ha! This sword has the power to alter existence, the wielder’s physical existence!” Illness demonstrated this power by disappearing and reappearing in multiple locations. “I could be here, here, there, or here -- hell! -- I could be anywhere!” He reappeared behind Steven once again and laughed again. “To think that I would get to kill in such a fun way! But for it to end so quickly…” Steven turned his head around, his eyes burning with rage. At that moment, the sword in Illness’s hand shattered into millions of pieces and fell to the ground. “What!” Illness screamed in utmost surprise.

“My barriers…” Steven began to say as he rose to his feet, “if it’s inanimate, then I can create a barrier there. Once I knew that sword had that kind of power… I couldn’t just let some murderer have it, now could I?” Steven had even halted his bleeding by placing a barrier.

“So you destroyed the sword using barriers?”

“Yeah,” Steven laughed, “and it was easy, too. Since you were standing still talking about how fun it is to murder, it was easy to break that sword.”

“Do you think that’s enough to stop me from killing you! I’ve gone all this way without it! Do you think I’d need it now!”

“Ha! You’re down a sword and I’m down an arm… that just… makes us… even…” Steven fell back to his knees in weakness. Illness, who had been slightly intimidated by Steven’s display of unknown strength, began laughing again once he saw Steven lose all his strength.

“Even? Don’t make me laugh!” Illness laughed. “You’re dead!” Illness lunged at Steven and Steven really thought he was dead. He closed his eyes and prepared for death. That was when Steven heard a sound he could only attribute to some kind of electricity. Steven opened his eyes to see Illness falling backwards, a beam of white light piercing through his head.

As Illness’s lifeless body fell to the ground, Steven looked up in the direction of the beam’s source. The beam had come from Tye’s sky island that was currently floating above the castle. Steven could barely make out the sight of a figure standing on the edge of the sky island. That figure was Slumber.

“I’m sorry, Illness, but I can’t have you interfering in our plan anymore. Well, I guess there’s nothing to be sorry for…” Slumber said to himself as he moved away from the island’s edge and back into the tower. Steven’s vision became blurry as he saw Slumber move away from the island’s edge.

“Steven!” Aria cried out as she kneeled down next to him. Steven’s barrier that he had used to stop his bleeding began to disappear as he began to lose consciousness. “Hang on, we’ll get you somewhere that can save you!”

“There’s no need, Aria.” Steven managed to get out.

“What?” Aria questioned whether Steven was sane or not. Did he not want to be saved?

“I think you two both know that this is the end for me.” Kotori and Aria gave each other confused looks and then turned back to Steven. “Take me to Ren. That’s my final wish...” Steven then fell to the ground, unconscious.

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Character File

The Averaelian Princess: Kotori Averaelia

Age: 18

Eyes: Light blue

Hair: Long light blue hair; long bangs pinned to the sides of her head

Height: 5’ 6’’

Outfit: Unknown. Outfit is covered by a tan, hooded cloak

Information: None of the information about who she was in the original world has been revealed. She has an ability that she has not disclosed and a magic spell called “piercing light.” The only other known information about her is that Slumber let her go for some reason…

----------------------------------------

Ren opened his eyes and found himself sitting upright in a chair. He was seated at a small, circular table with Mana on the opposite side sipping on a cup of tea with her eyes closed.

“What the? That feeling -- was I just asleep?” Ren burst out. Mana opened her eyes and set her cup of tea on the table, prepared for the final, long conversation ahead of them.

“Ren, what’s the last thing you remember?” Mana questioned. Ren wondered why she had asked him that instead of answering him before thinking about his most recent memory. He was shocked when he remembered.

“That’s right! We were in that strange underground room -- and then Finite appeared! -- and we… I…”

“Yes. You were killed.”

“What!” Ren shot to his feet and grasped his pendant with his right hand. “Then how am I? Am I --”

“No. You are not dead.” Ren didn’t know what else to say so he remained quiet. “Sit back down, Ren. There’s a lot I need to explain to you before you wake up.” Ren did as he was told and sat back down in his chair.

“Go ahead. I’m listening.” This was Mana’s que to begin.

“The most pressing question you want answered is how you’re still alive. The answer: I don’t know. After your body was destroyed your soul should’ve left the human realm, but your pendant remained glowing. Your pendant then broke and released your willpower, recreating you as pure willpower. You have no memory of this?”

“No. I don’t remember anything after I was… cut in half…”

“Hmmm.” Was all Mana said about that as she then continued explaining to Ren what had happened to him. “As pure willpower, you killed Finite. After killing him, your physical body reformed and you were back to how you were before Finite had killed you. It was as if you had never been killed in the first place. That’s when the room you three were in began to disappear, as if the room itself was just an illusion, and you three reappeared in Centiria’s central garden. All of you were unconscious, of course.”

“And that monument, what was that?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t seem likely that Tye would’ve created that but with some of the nonsensical things we’ve seen come from him then I wouldn’t doubt it if it were just something he created that actually held no value at all. Nevertheless, I have to choose to believe it was him who created such a thing because I doubt the first goddess would’ve ever made something like that in the world. I wouldn’t pay it any mind.”

“I.. just still can’t believe it. I? Beat Finite?”

“I’ve never seen or heard anything like what I saw. After you had killed Finite, I took a peek at your overall willpower to see if you’d crossed the line with that power, but you hadn’t moved any closer to the line at all. Perhaps it’s because you, yourself, don’t actually have any idea what you did. Nevertheless, I think that using something like that surely came with consequences.”

“What kind of consequences?”

“Well you already know one because you’ve heard about it happening to Tye. If you attempt to use more willpower than you have then you’ll create a ‘debt’ that’s filled by falling into a coma proportional to the amount of excess willpower you expended. That’s just one of the rules set up by The One to ensure that no human nor god becomes too powerful. Another rule is… a bit more serious.”

“What is it?”

Mana sighed and looked away from Ren as she said this. “With willpower, you have the power to do anything you will, so what’s to stop someone from using their will to override a rule? The answer is the one rule that can never be overridden: if you use your willpower to override a rule, the consequence one faces is --” Ren’s eyes widened as he heard the consequence.

“That’s -- I know why it’s important for someone not to override that rule, but that’s --”

“Yes. It is cruel, but it must be done. Never forget that rule, Ren.”

“Yeah…” Ren agreed softly.

“As for the previous rule I mentioned, that’s what happened to you after you became pure willpower. You triggered the rule because using your willpower like that expended way more willpower than you could have. That means you’ve been in a coma for the past week.”

“What! What about Aria and Steven!”

“After seeing that the sky island that Tye was riding on had begun moving, Aria and Steven followed the island to Averaelia while carrying you there. You are currently in a hotel bed. As for Aria and Steven… you better prepare yourself.” Ren’s heart dropped in fear that something terrible had happened.

“I’m ready.”

“Aria and Steven fought alongside a stranger to defeat Illness. Steven’s right arm was cut off in the fight and he’s close to death due to blood loss. As for Illness, he was killed by Slumber.” Ren had prepared himself for the feeling of despair of losing another one of his closest friends, but the feeling struck him even harder than he thought it was -- and Steven wasn’t even dead! -- Steven was alive, and yet.. Ren couldn’t help but feel that he was going to lose Steven, too.

“Mana… is he… going to live?” Mana frowned as she answered him.

“No.” That one word felt as if Ren had been shot through the heart. “He… only has a little bit of time left…” Ren stared at Mana with an expression that showed just how destroyed his heart felt. Mana, who was still looking away from Ren, glanced back at him and saw the tears begin to fall down his face. Mana had no idea what to do, she had never been put in a situation where she needed to console a human before. “Ah!” She shot out of her chair and began to walk around the table to Ren. “Uh, well…” Mana leaned over and pulled him into a hug. “You can’t give up yet. You’re the only one who can save everyone. You’re the only one who can stop Tye.”

Tye… the name that Ren once called that of his best friend. Those memories hadn’t disappeared even after all that Ren had been through. The days where Tye was there for him -- no matter what -- but those days were over. Tye was a shell of who he once was. On the inside of that shell was a murderer in hiding. That murderer was the result of so much pain. Sal, Dr. Tirion, Terra, Steven, and all of the other people that had died due to Tye. Ren couldn’t help but become angry as he thought back to the thought he had before this all began. Did true evil exist? Ren concluded that the answer is subjective to the person asking the question. So to Ren, Jonathan may have been true evil, but Tye appeared much worse right now -- so much so that his hatred stopped the flow of his tears. Ren put his hand on the right side of Mana’s face and looked up at her with a face that showed he was attempting to overcome the pain he felt but was engulfed in anger at the same time.

“I’m okay now.” Ren said as he rose to his feet. “I’m going to stop Tye, no matter what.” Ren’s face didn’t make his words appear very convincing.

“No.” Mana retorted.

“What?”

“No matter what means that you’re thinking of increasing your overall willpower to the point of death. I won’t allow it.”

“Wait, but there’s no way for me to beat Tye without increasing my power! I’ve seen Tye use his power, that means that I--”

“No. I forbid it. I won’t allow you to come this far just to die.”

“Then what can I do? If I go against Tye then he can just alter the world and I’ll be finished.”

“Leave that to me. I’ll use my powers to ensure that Tye can’t just remake the world in the middle of your fight.”

“Wait, but I thought you couldn’t do that?”

“The reason I couldn’t was so that Tye wouldn’t be warned of a greater presence such as a god. That way his perception wouldn’t be changed enough for him to become a god himself. If I use my powers while you fight against him, he won’t have the time to realize that the reason he can’t use his powers is because a god is inhibiting his powers. Hell! You can even tell him that you’re the reason! That’ll throw him for a loop! I don’t know what he’ll have in store after that, but it’ll be up to you to stop him from there!”

“Ha! That’ll be easy.” Ren finally gave a real smile. “Without the ability to alter the world, Tye’s just a normal person. I’ll make sure I pay him back for stealing the lives of so many people.” As Ren said this, he started to feel dizzy.

“Ah, you’re beginning to wake up.”

“Heh. So soon? I was just getting pumped up, too.” Mana smiled.

“See you soon, Ren.” Were the last words he heard before he woke up in the dark hotel room. Ren could see that it was night outside as he looked out the window and saw the moon light up the sky. He looked over to his left and saw Steven smiling at him from a different bed. Ren jumped out of his bed and kneeled by Steven’s side.

“How are you doing?” Ren asked.

“Could be better.” Steven said quietly. “Hurts like hell,” he laughed softly.

“You should be sleeping. You need to get your rest.”

“Ha! And miss your sendoff? Like hell I would?”

“Sendoff?” Ren questioned how Steven knew he was going to wake up.

“I don’t know… it just felt like I knew you were going to wake up. Or maybe it was just one last wish of mine. Who knows...”

“You…” Ren held back the tears that he had just overcome.

“Ren… do you remember when we met?” Steven questioned.

“Yeah.”

“You and Tye walked over to me and just started talking to me out of nowhere. I was so shocked. No one had ever talked with me like that before. Before then, I was all alone… but you two pulled me in, and we became friends. The four of us. We were always the talk at school. The intelligent one, the cool one, the delinquent, and the cute girl. We were the perfect group of friends.” Steven began crying. This was the first time Ren had ever seen Steven begin to cry. “Thank you, Ren. Thanks for being... my friend.” The tears began to drop from Ren’s eyes again as well.

“Yeah.” Ren said with a smile.

“The times I spent with the three of you, I’ll always treasure them.”

“So will I.” Ren said as he rose to his feet. “And Aria?”

“Asleep in the next room.”

“Great, then I don’t need to disturb her.” Ren began to walk out the door of the room.

“Ren... never forget me... okay?” Steven said quietly as Ren began to walk out of the door.

“Yeah. Have a good rest, Steven…” Ren shut the door behind him, and Steven breathed his last breath with a smile on his face. Ren walked out of the hotel with a blank expression on his face as he turned his head towards the floating sky island. The island was floating incredibly low to the ground, so low that Ren thought he could climb to the top if he used the castle’s tallest tower. From there, it would be an arduous climb to the top, but that was the only way up.

Ren marched down Averaelia’s central road towards the city’s central square and the castle’s entrance. There was no sign of life as he walked down the street. No sounds, no light, no people, nothing. It was as if he and Tye were the only people that existed in the world anymore. Ren marched through the central square and through the castle’s destroyed entrance. Rubble covered the ground throughout the castle grounds. It was clear that not a single soul had entered the castle grounds since Tye and the executioners had slaughtered everyone one year ago. Ren navigated the ruined grounds with some difficulty, but he didn’t care. The only thing on his mind was killing Tye.

He found the stairs of the central tower and climbed them all the way to the top. Perhaps there used to be a room of some kind at the top of the tower, but it had been completely obliterated. There were no walls left. All that remained was the floor of what used to be a room. Of course, the only thing Ren was paying attention to was the island in front of him.

Floating next to the top of the tower was the bottom tip of the island that Ren planned to climb somehow. He studied the climb ahead of him and began to think it was impossible. Even if he created tools with his willpower to use to climb, the wall he had to climb was nearly forty-five degrees. There was no way he was climbing that.

“Ren,” said a voice from behind him. Ren turned around to see that the person who had called out to him was none other than Kotori.

“Who are you?” he questioned.

“My name is Kotori Averaelia. I saw you leave the hotel… and…”

“Wait, how do you know my name?”

“Aria and Steven told me about you.” Ren recalled the stranger that Mana had

told him had fought with Steven and Aria against Illness.

“I’m sorry to ask, but would you happen to know a way that I could get to the top of this island?”

“Yes, I do have a way.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yes.” Kotori walked over to him and placed her hand on his chest. Ren instantly felt lighter and he began to float into the air. Kotori grabbed his hand so he didn’t begin to float away.

“Whoa! What is this?” Ren questioned.

“It’s my ability: the ability to alter any multiplicative constants. I changed the gravity constant from nine point three one to about negative four and a half. Once you’re at the top, I’ll revert your gravity constant to normal.”

“That’s pretty handy.” Ren commented. Kotori nodded her head.

“Ren… do you think… I could come along?” Ren was a bit surprised that she had asked to join him, but Ren didn’t need to think about an answer.

“I appreciate the offer, but this is something I need to do on my own.”

“I see…” Kotori averted her gaze shyly. She then pulled something out of her pocket and placed it in Ren’s hand.

“What’s this?” Ren questioned, but he didn’t get a response from Kotori before she let go of his hand. Ren began to float upwards and hit his head on the island. “Ouch!” He exclaimed, but it didn’t actually hurt that much. He found himself pressed against the bottom of the sky island as if that was actually the ground. He looked at what Kotori had placed in his hand. It was a gold ring with the Valenthia High emblem engraved on it. Ren wanted to question if Kotori was also a student of Valenthia High but she had disappeared out of sight. Ren just hoped that she would keep her word about reverting his gravity constant once he had reached the top. Ren stood up and put the ring on his right ring finger as he began walking up the side of the island. It was just like walking down a hill -- except he was really upside down and he didn’t want to think about that. Once he reached the edge of the island he questioned how he was going to get onto the other side without being pulled into the sky. He decided to put his faith into Kotori’s words. He crouched down to the ledge, turned around, grabbed the ledge, and threw himself over the edge as if he was swinging himself off of a gymnastic bar. Ren let go and launched himself onto the island only to fall to the ground flat on his face. The sudden change in gravity was extremely disorienting and Ren never wanted to do something like that again.

Ren rose to his feet and turned around. The tower was right there in front of his face. Inside, waiting for him, was none other than Slumber, the executioner he had lost to once before; however, the greater foe stood at the top of the tower: his best friend, Tye Ferris.

One year ago

Kotori was still staring down at the body of the head knight when Slumber began speaking to her: “Kotori.” Kotori’s head shot towards Slumber, who was staring at her. “Take this and go.” Slumber held out his left hand to give something to Kotori. Kotori reached her hand out and took what Slumber had given her. Kotori examined what she had been given. She had been handed a golden ring with the Valenthia High emblem on it.

“What’s this?” Kotori questioned.

“You will take this and give it to Ren once you meet him. Until then, hold on to that ring as if your life depends on it. Now, go.” Kotori nodded her head and fled. Slumber watched as she disappeared out of sight. “Yes… for the plan to succeed… he must have that ring by the time we fight.”