After resting for a moment, I open my eyes. Emerald is sitting next to me, behind a building far away from the fight. Neither Trace nor Savior have come back, yet. I'm beginning to worry.
“You like her...” Emerald, who had remained silent up to this point, says this.
“Wha?” I'm so thrown off by this that I didn't know what to say. What made her suddenly say this?
“You really care about Trace a lot, don't you?”
“Of course. She's my friend.” She just nods, as if she didn't understand before. “Why? Is there a reason you've decided to start talking about her?”
“Not really...” Rather than let the conversation end, I urge her to keep talking.
“...it's about Summer of 2014, isn't it?”
She seems shocked that I even brought it up, but she seems more shocked that I know what she wants to talk about. “How can you forgive her...?” I can hear anger in Emerald's voice. I think carefully about how to answer her question...
“Trace is my friend, so I gave her a chance. Isn't that enough? Emerald, listen. Trace hasn't killed a single person since then... I won't ask you to forgive her... you lost your friend, after all. Still... I want you to understand that Trace won't ever kill someone again. Are you listening?”
“I just need time to think about it.” Saying this, she stands up.
“Where are you going?”
Looking at me as if it's obvious, Emerald says: “The explosions and stuff stopped a long time ago. Don't you wanna see if they're alright?” I hadn't payed it too much attention, actually. So we walk toward the scene of the fight, but to both of our surprise, we meet Trace and Primo halfway there.
“Cleo?” I just stare at Trace for a moment. She doesn't have a scratch on her... How did she fight Savior without getting hurt? “You're wondering how we won,” Trace says, smiling. “It's thanks to these!” She points to the swords on Primo's back. The Thirteen Blades... I guess that even Savior's Blade isn't powerful enough to stand up to all of them.
Before I get distracted, I remember that there's a question that's been bugging me. “Trace, did you...”
“Savior's alive. She spared him.” Primo interrupts me and says this.
“Yeah, I dealt a final blow, but it didn't kill 'im. In the state he's in, he can't hurt anyone, anyway. Besides, I felt kinda sorry for him,” Trace says, hiding her sadness behind a smile. “He didn't understand that what he was going to do was wrong. He's not like the Savior the religious folks believe in. Just an imitation gone wrong... makes me a little sad.” She looks up to the sky.
“So yeah, I called Miss Strife, and she'll come and collect him later. Don't worry about it.” Primo gives us a thumbs up. He's smiling. We all are... We did it. Everything's alright—wait, no, it's not!
“Blue!” Everyone looks at me when I suddenly say this. “Everyone! We gotta go help Blue and Baek!” After that, everyone understands and we run back to the CORE Building.
...
We go to the 6th floor, where Primo says they should be. Beyond the large door, a fight is in progress against who I assume is Queen. Blue... is standing on Baek's shoulders. What's going on? “Blue!?” I shout, starting to walk to him.
“Stop!” He stretches his arm out, pointing at the ground. As I look where he's pointing, I notice there's a Magic Circle on the ground. “That circle drains the mana of whoever steps into it!” I almost walked right into it... I see Queen in the center of the room.
“Flèche, do you think we can shoot her?”
“I don't know. I'm already low on mana and I'm not sure if the arrow will be able to reach her.”
I hadn't thought about that. Even if I don't have to take the Magic Circle into account... “We need to try.” Flèche materializes the bow, and I fire. The arrow flies...!
...and doesn't reach her. She looks in my direction. “Ha!”
While she's looking over here, Blue says something to Baek that I didn't hear. “What?”
“I said 'throw me', Baek!” With that, Blue drops from his shoulders and Baek throws him, sending him flying toward the Queen. Although she's no longer distracted, she is nearly hit by Blue's fist, which she rolls away from. But then... Ah, I see. That's what Blue wanted. With his fist, he smashes the floor, breaking the circle.
The three of them go falling down to the 5th floor. Without thinking, I follow them. “Cleo!” By the time Trace shouts, it's too late. I've already jumped down there.
“Give up, Queen.” Once he finishes falling, Blue says this. “You're outnumbered, and you've exhausted the mana of your Magic Knight Force.”
The woman, Queen, just laughs. “You've missed a vital detail, boy! You're still feeling the effects of the Magic Circle, are you not? What did you think was happening to your mana as I stood in the middle of it?”
When she says this, Baek says, “Oh...”, and looks to Blue for some kind of plan.
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“I see. Your Circle drains the mana of whoever stands in it and sends it to the caster, who stands in the center of it where the stolen mana is goes. I'm not sure how I didn't see that earlier.” Blue seems to smile at what Queen had done, despite the situation he's in. “In other words, you're almost at full power, while we're both tired. It should be an easy curb-stomp in your favor, right?” She seems surprised and confused at this question. “It's a good thing that I decided to stand on Baek's shoulders. That way, the Circle couldn't reach me...” Blue smirks.
“So you still have most of your mana left. Interesting tactics, boy... but it won't save you. You don't stand a chance against the second strongest in all of Shadowhand. Even if you do beat me, King is waiting for you and he'll wipe you all out, drained of power or otherwise. Either way, prepare to die...”
Queen forms a Mystic Coat around herself, and takes a fighting stance. Blue does the same, but he seems to do so using less mana than Queen. The first thing Queen does is throw a fireball, which Blue, as I expected, just stands and takes.
He emerges undamaged. “Your element is fire, I see.” Now, Blue runs forward. If Queen is only good at fire magic, then Blue can win this easily, but... as Blue runs forward, I notice that Queen is just standing there, as if she expected Blue to run at her... “Blue! Be careful!”
By the time I say this, it's too late. Blue is right in front of her, then... “Glacies.” A spear of ice appears right in front of her... and Blue is stabbed by it.
“Dammit...” He's bleeding from the wound on his stomach. If he hadn't had the Mystic Coat on, it would have gone all the way through. This is bad... I don't think Flèche can heal him with the mana she has left.
“Dumbass kid! What would make you think that a person can only be good at one element? My Magic Knight Force allows me to use almost all elemental spells...” An evil grin. “You can see now that there's no way you can win. I can counter anything you throw at me with a spell of my own! I don't even have to let you touch me! Struggle and die like the dog you are! Ah ha ha ha ha!”
Lux. The beam goes out, and Blue blocks it with his left hand, taking a little damage. “Azure Fist!” The blue flame shoots forward...
“Ventus.” ...but it's blown away like nothing by the strong wind. “Terra.” Queen smashes the ground with her fist, turning some of it into dangerous objects to hurl at Blue. He dodges, moving around as fast as he can, which I'm surprised he's doing with that stab wound he's got. The assault stops... Then the floor Blue stands on crumbles right under him.
He falls down yet another floor, and Queen chases him immediately. I run after her. Right now, Blue is powerless... I need to do something to help him! When I get down there, it's even worse. Blue's at the mercy of a multi-elemental storm, with little he can do to defend against it. I need to try something. Conversion...
Flèche is low on mana, but I can still use my own. If I convert my life force into mana, I can cast a spell. Conversion takes time, but with Queen focusing on Blue, I should have plenty of it.
...alright, that's good. Shoot forward, wind! “Ventus!” The razor sharp wind blows in Queen's direction, cutting her. While only sustaining minor injuries, she's still disoriented enough for Blue to act. Seeing this opportunity, he sends an Azure Fist flying into Queen's face.
She goes flying back, but quickly recovers and fires off more spells. I run in front of her target, Blue. Convert... “Scutum!” A magic shield appears in front of us, taking all the damage. Queen keeps firing, eventually breaking it. The impact of the last spell she fires sends me flying backwards. However, when she begins to cast a spell to hit us both...
“What...?”
“Burned yourself out, I assume.” Blue gets up and starts walking toward her, saying this. “I was waiting for you to run out of mana, firing those spells all over the place.” All of the sudden, Queen seems terrified. Blue stands right in front of her. “I feel like I should have something badass to say, here, but I don't...” Then Blue throws one last punch. WHAM! “All I have to do is this.”
Queen seems to be trying to get up, which doesn't surprise me. “Is this really happening? Did I...”
“You've lost.” When Blue says this, Queen looks as if she'd been hit by a truck.
“NO.” It seems as if she really cannot believe it... “No...! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!” I can see Queen falling apart... It's hard to watch, and kind of sad. “Why did I lose!? I can't lose! I had to win!!!” Tears start rushing from her eyes. “If I don't beat you... If I lose, nothing will change! I HAD TO WIN! WHY DID I LOSE!?” She throws herself on the ground to starts crying like a child. Looking over at Blue, he seems just as uncomfortable watching her freak out as I am.
“Come on, guys. Let's leave her...” Baek says this and starts to walk away.
Just as we begin to turn away, however, Queen sits up, silently. No screaming, no crying, nothing. She then says this:
“Kill me.”
We're all shocked. How are we supposed to react to something like that? Blue is the first one to say something. “Why would you want us to do such a thing?”
“It's... everything is worthless,” the Queen says. “Do you know who I am? My name is Sharice Freeman...”
“What the...!?” Trace reacts, suddenly.
“That's right. Charles Freeman, the man who wrote Kingdom of Fear, was my family...”
I gasp. The others seem very surprised as well. Indeed, this is very unexpected.
“My father told me about how Uncle Charles got killed because the people were afraid of what he believed. When CORE rose, I joined up, but only to work with the scientists in getting the Dive Network to work. I didn't want to hurt anyone... but this rotten land kept on pushing me and pushing me... until I turned into this...
“Why... why do I have to suffer with this injustice!? No one will help me because of my history. No one will respect me because I was one of the 'bad guys'. I, along with everyone else who lived through it, are treated like lower class citizens. Why didn't they just keep us in prison!?” No one knows what to say. Even Blue is at a loss for words, it seems.
“All I had left to look forward to was a chance at revenge, but I won't get it. I have nothing to live for, now... so kill me.”
After listening to all this, Blue says one word... “No.” Queen seems surprised. Blue goes on. “If I killed you, nothing really would change. Former CORE members would continue to be mistreated, and no one would have even noticed.” He kneels down, so his face is level with her's. “You wanted things to change, and there's nothing wrong with that. I can't kill you for fighting against what you think is unfair. I... we want you to live so we can see you change this. Work for the change you want... just don't do this... and don't throw your life away.”
Queen looks at Blue's face, which turns into a reassuring smile. “I know you can do it. Now, we're off to stop King from ruining everything, including your second chance.” He stands up, or rather, he tries to... the wounds are finally getting to him.
“Blue!” I pick him up off of the floor.
“Tch. It's no good. I can't go on like this.”
“It's okay, Blue. Stay there,” Trace says, with Emerald and Primo already heading back up to the 6th floor. “We'll take care of it from here.” She smiles and starts to walk away.
“Wait!” I shout, before she leaves.
“What? We can't take Baek with us, so...”
“But, what about me?”
Trace seems to avert meeting my gaze. “You two look so cute together...” She says, smiling nervously.
I blush.
“Pfff... ha ha ha! Seriously, though, take care of him. When Blue can walk, come meet us. We should be done by then.”
I nod. “Good luck.”
They run off to the final battle. After this, everything will be alright. We can go on with our lives, knowing things have changed for the better...
...right?