A brimming flash of light scorched open a portal as searing sparks ignited small flames around the entrance. Lyn and the others leaped out of the destructive vale, washing atop an island with cold stone cliffs washed with wooden debris and water. Waves scattered away from the lone island at rapid speeds as the five descended from Alfaic's portal.
Lyn, whose cheek was flushed against the cold stone, gently lifted herself upward with her eyes wide open in anticipation. She watched as the others lifted themselves off the ground as well in sluggish motion, hoping that their battle against Krin was the final moment where they could rejoice together.
"Did we get it?" Claire asked, turning her head to face the others in search of the fragments.
Ardine, who stood up last, revealed the shimmering blue cylindrical fragment in his hand with a sly smirk. "Got you at last, my precious." He commented.
"YES!" Claire cheered as she huddled around Ardine, coddling him with a warm and loving embrace. Alfaic, ached by the abuse of his usage, stood up from his spot as Arisz approached from behind, placing his palm on his shoulder in approval.
"It's about time you've come back to your senses," Arisz said, approaching the edge of the cliff. "But you're not well. I can tell."
Lyn moved aside from Ardine and Claire and turned her attention to Alfaic, who crossed his arms in concentration. She didn't think twice about her next decision, which was to rush toward him and leap into his arms for a gentle embrace. Arisz moved away, reluctant to intervene with them.
"Whoa," Alfaic laughed, rotating Lyn around as they briefly danced in circles upon catching each other. "Alright, simmer down, you. I thought you were mad at me."
"How can I be now after everything?" Lyn said, face alight with joyous jubilation.
"You saved me again," Alfaic said. "Just how many times do you plan on doing that?"
"However as many," She said. Before they were able to speak again, the same thought of regret passed through Lyn's mind. "Listen. Whatever it is that you're up to... I just hope you can do it in good conscience. As long as we're one step closer to ending this... I don't care what you do. But eventually, won't you tell me?"
"Yeah..." He said before embracing Lyn with a warm hug.
For some odd reason, the embrace felt wrong. It was a much tighter one, securing their position as something that didn't seem natural. Perhaps it was real, or perhaps Lyn was completely imagining it.
"Thank you for saving me again," Alfaic's voice was low as he stated the obvious. "You fought well."
"You're welcome." Lyn finished.
As the two continued to dabble in their celebration, Claire watched Ardine from a distance speak into his voice recorder in isolation. Just as he had finished, Claire approached him, watching him hold the glowing fragment with his fingertips and balancing it from finger to finger like a fidget toy. Watching him place the recorder in his back pocket, Claire placed her hands behind her back and swayed from side to side, wanting no more than to perform the final deed to give the world their freedom.
"Stop playing with it," Claire teased. "You're going to drop it and all of this will be for nothing."
Ardine scoffed and looked toward the ocean without a response. He flicked it into the air and snatched it in his fist, keeping it tightly sealed. "Mae. Luna," He whispered to himself as he gazed toward the crescent moon hiding behind the island's mist. "Can you see this? Can you see us? We're one step closer. All of us."
Claire moved toward Arisz by the edge of the cliff and turned around to face Ardine with a joyous spread of her arms. She was happy that he could find solace with a proper ending for his family. "As we promised," She began. "We'll find the last one and finish this... and we'll head home."
"You're really dying to see it, huh?" Ardine said.
"I've been a lone wolf for a while now. Resting in a warm bed where I can finally be welcomed... is all I ever wanted. And... thank you. For making this dream come true again."
"Don't thank me yet," Ardine said, turning toward Lyn and Alfaic. "We still need to gather our strength one last time. We push together, strong."
Claire nodded. "Right!"
Alfaic began moving toward Arisz near the edge, who waited for the Figment vessel to arrive in time. In the corner of his eyes, Arisz spotted it moving at full speed toward the cold misty island. Waves began crashing against the island's edge, and a sudden drizzle of rain began dabbling on top of their skin.
Claire approached the edge, only for Ardine to stop her. "Claire." He called.
"Yeah?" Claire said, turning around.
As much as he wanted to say something else that he stirred inside his heart, the timing wasn't ready for him to speak his mind. Instead, he ended their conversation with a final remark.
"Good job, kid." He said.
Claire blushed in response. "You too... old man." She smiled.
As the three began to approach the edge with the intent on returning to D'Avuzel for a debrief, a brief illumination of light shone in the corner of the dark misty cave, flashing against Ardine's eyes. He paused to turn around, believing that he had been misjudging the moment.
But another flash appeared. Lyn saw it too.
Claire's back was turned.
Lyn unsheathed Déraciné as Ardine pulled out his rifle, loading a singular bullet inside. A crash of thunder and lightning struck the island's side, blotting out the noise of their warning. Claire, Alfaic, and Arisz were completely unaware of what the two had seen.
A looming presence approached the group in slow succession.
The moonlight suddenly revealed a pale face that escaped the shadows with a look of glorified terror. It was Abel, who returned. His eyes were stricken with the bloodlust of vengeance and the scent of death. His eyes fixated on the fragment housed in the palm of Ardine's trigger finger. He slowly approached him with his left palm raised out, wanting to seize control of it.
A single second passed. Claire turned around with the intent to speak more about Buchasa and their journey together.
Upon seeing Envie, Abel readied a crimson bolt of red light in his palm with the intent to murder her once and for all for revenge. He grinned widely, revealing his sharp teeth.
He fired the bolt, aiming straight for the heart.
"NO!" Ardine cried, dropping his rifle.
A blinding flash of light approached Claire's vision. She didn't have the time to react or move out of the way. It was only until Ardine, who propelled himself against her to shove her away from the bolt to safety, was it then that she recognized the nightmare that would end the sanctity of her dreams.
The red bolt pierced through the center of Ardine's chest, puncturing and blasting a fist sized hole through. His tensed fingers loosened, dropping the vale's fragment on the cold rocks beneath him. Blood seeped from his mouth as he froze in place, staring at Claire's dismayed and agonizing expression for the final time.
"Go." He uttered, blood staining his teeth and lips. His face instantly became ghostly pale, and his lively spirit and charm seemed to wane away as seconds passed by. All he could focus on was Claire, who laid back in place after realizing he had saved her life. It was the only person he wanted to look at - until the end. "Go."
"LYN!" Claire screamed at the top of her lungs, wanting her to take action to defend Ardine.
However, the moment Lyn tried to seize the opportunity to strike Abel after realizing what had happened, an invisible force clutched her arms and legs, pinning her in place. She dropped Déraciné by her side. Her neck jolted upward, forcing her to look down from a cumbersome angle to track the source of the bind. She felt the life being choked out of her throat as her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
From the shadows, beside Abel, the hooded figure who had been stalking Lyn since the end of Kaiden and Seth, appeared with their left hand extended outward. The person's facial features were all masqueraded with the exception of their mouth and chin, which appeared calm in the moment. Their figure was unrecognizable from the brown tattered robes that obscured all.
Alfaic and Arisz both began to notice the attack. They charged forward with Claire, attempting to retaliate together, but an invisible barrier conjured by the unknown figure blocked their tracks, forcing them backward.
Claire's heart raced beyond abnormality. She clenched her teeth in fury, extending her left hand in an attempt to disintegrate the barrier. For a brief moment, her power amounted to success. But it was not until the barrier's rapid regeneration did she seethe in absolute spiteful rage in wanting to bypass to save the two.
"FUCK!" Claire's agonizing shrieks split the night in half as she sobbed, spitting in defiance against Abel and the unknown figure. "STOP IT!"
Lyn's body began slowly levitating toward the hooded figure at a snail's pace.
Claire watched as Ardine's body went cold and limp, keeling over and falling on his flank. From her angle, she could see the blood writhed hole seeping death across the cold rocks. His eyes fixated on his rifle one last time, crawling over as blood escaped the corners of his dried lips. Claire held her breath, hoping to heaven that he would come out of it alive. She pressed her face against the barrier and slammed her left hand repeatedly, hoping to make it through to no avail.
"STOP IT!" Claire screamed once more.
Arisz stood up and turned his back as Alfaic approached Claire from the side.
Ardine stopped Lyn from moving by standing on front of her, stumbling like a drunken man. He cocked his rifle back and loaded one final bullet in the chamber inside. He watched as Abel hauntingly approached him with a devilish smirk on his face. He exhaled a breath of metallic fumes as he held the rifle by his side, aiming it at him.
"You psycho fuck," He muttered before ramping up his strength to yell in rage. "This is for my wife and kid, you fucking asshole!"
As Ardine pulled the trigger, Abel dashed forward and maneuvered his rifle toward the sky with the back of his hand, forcing a complete miss. He drew Ardine forward until his shoulder pressed against his neck. Ramping his right fist back, he jabbed his aether infused fist toward Ardine's abdomen, puncturing yet another second hole right through his stomach until his guts spilled out.
Lyn's eyes wriggled in horror and spite of Abel's actions, attempting to break free from the bind that tore her apart.
Claire's face completely broke apart, anguished by the sight of Abel's brutality against him. Abel chuckled, releasing his fist from Ardine's gut, leaving him collapsing to the ground to choke on the remnants of his own blood. As the vale fragment escaped Ardine's palm, Abel slammed the sole of his foot against it crushing the light out of it entirely and rendering it completely useless.
Claire's guttural voice trailed off as she moaned in terror, clawing her fingernails until they bled against the barrier in a final attempt to save them.
"You got what you deserved," Abel said, imitating what Ardine had said to him at the stone bridge. "That was for my brother. Suffer and rot."
Alfaic's face was completely tame against what he had witnessed, completely contrasting with Claire's emotional suffering. All of those dreams that she had, the end of all suffering across the universe, the hearth she would call family, and inner peace, was fading faster than flame.
Right when Abel lifted his foot to stomp on Ardine's head to splatter it into brain matter, the hooded figure extended their right palm forward, stopping him by using the invisible force grappling Lyn. Abel looked toward the figure, placing his foot back down on the ground in acknowledgment of their gesture.
Claire watched them speak for the first time, remembering that it was the older version of her.
"Enough," She said in a low tone, looking down upon Ardine's dismembered body. "Enough blood has been spilt tonight."
Low shallow breaths were all Ardine could suffice. He couldn't move a single muscle as much as he wanted to. As his strength and life began to sap away rapidly, he relaxingly laid on his side and took a final exhale.
Hallucinations of his beautiful wife and daughter greeted him in the distance, with their voices calling him. He felt as if he was dreaming. And at the end of the light, Claire stood there, waiting for him toward the entrance to Buchasa.
There was a brief moment of solace, just for him.
His eyes slowly trembled as he gazed up at the hooded figure's face from underneath. As they exchanged an extended glance at each other, Ardine's eyes widened in utter disbelief.
"Coward."
Those were Ardine's final words.
As his eyes gazed endlessly toward nothingness, his body went completely limp and lifeless. He was dead.
"NO! ARDINE!" Claire shrieked at the top of her lungs. Light hints and glimpses of her unknown power that cascaded into angelic harmony attempted to free itself from its cosmic grasp. Yet the anguish and absolute horror inflicted upon Claire's mind and body had reduced it to nothingness. Her celestial power had no effect, for there was no control over anything in that moment.
She couldn't believe it. After murdering her family, she thought she could have gotten a second chance with Szene and her adopted family.
After their deaths, she never believed a third chance would arrive. And it was the absolute pinnacle of all chances she ever wanted in her life.
And it was taken away from her. Once again.
She pressed her forehead against the barrier and sunk down in misery. Yet there was more.
Alfaic's face was resolute and neutral. He raised his hand toward the barrier and by miracle, he passed through it seamlessly. Claire's eyes trailed toward him, and watched him walk through it without a single worry in his mind. He kept his calm and neutral demeanor as he approached the center between a seized Lyn and the unknown figure binding her in the air. He picked up Déraciné with his right hand, gripping it firmly.
Claire watched as Alfaic nodded toward them after, with unknown intent.
"You don't get a final say, traitor-" Abel began.
The hooded figure forced Abel back once more, binding him temporarily. She released the bind on Lyn, dropping her toward the cold rocky floor. She could barely stand as she shuddered in disbelief over Ardine's corpse. She promised herself that no one else would perish, and that promise was instantly broken.
Claire watched as Alfaic turned around toward Lyn and extended his hand. Catching her attention, Lyn pulled her feeble body upward toward him until they stood close to each other. Alfaic released his grip on her hand, and his face began to sour in utter shame.
Arisz's back continued to turn, shaking his head in rejection. He sighed at the mere sight of Claire having to witness it all.
Lyn and Alfaic exchanged glances with one another. A surge of unknown emotions purged her thoughts. She was shaken over Ardine's death, but Alfaic's arrival made her purely confused. She didn't know what was going on, nor why it happened in such a short amount of time, just like an innocent little girl would. Much like Claire's, her dreams began to sift apart as well in her mind.
All she could voice in that moment was his name.
"Blade." She whispered, smiling at him face to face.
Alfaic's closed mouth trembled as he placed his palm on Lyn's shoulder. He looked at her one final time and uttered a phrase so quiet that no one, not even himself could hear.
It was about to happen again.
In a final heartbeat, Alfaic drove Déraciné through Lyn's chest, his grip unyielding as her immortal tethers snapped in an instant. No regeneration came. It was only the mortal weight of blood spilling from the wound. Her breath faltered and was silenced without a word. Alfaic seized her black ponytail, pressing his forehead against her shoulder before holding her close as her life vanquished away with each passing second.
"NOOOOOO!" Claire's raw scream tore through the air in disbelief. Two of her dearest, one a sister, and the other almost a father, were instantly ripped away from her in the span of a minute. And worst of all, the one responsible was the very man Lyn had begged her to trust, despite every shadow of suspicion.
Alfaic held his breath as he pulled Déraciné out of her chest. As Lyn's eyes closed completely in acceptance of death, a single luminescent teardrop escaped her left eye, dropping onto a small puddle of water beneath her heels. Her mind went completely blank, and an enveloping warmness suddenly surrounded her heart. Before she could acknowledge it, she collapsed beside Ardine's corpse and also suffered the same fate.
Lyn was dead.
The emotional turmoil that Claire suffered was replaced with utter vengeance that not even the human mind could comprehend. She dragged her palms against the barrier and slumped backwards, losing her mind entirely as she began to laugh at the eternal damnation from the cycle of the curse and death's dance. Arisz approached Claire and grappled her from underneath her arms, intending to escape back to D'Avuzel on the Figment boat.
She didn't budge a muscle.
The mere audacity of what had happened would never, ever, be forgotten from her.
As the two vanished to safety, the barrier held by the hooded figure disappeared. Alfaic clutched Déraciné firmly, wanting to never let go. He turned back as his shriveled face slowly returned to neutral. He gave a bitter gaze toward the hooded figure as he stepped up closer to them.
He wanted to spit on them for what he had done, but he knew that deep down, what he had done was for the best.
"You'll just have to wait a bit longer." Alfaic uttered before turning and leaving in the opposite direction of the island.
As Abel scowled at his traitorous brother for what he had done to Lyn, the hooded figure remained still, stunned at what Alfaic had said and done. They failed to budge the moment he left. It was only until Joy, the final clone of Krin, approached from the shadows and began to leap from rock to rock, stalking Claire and Arisz on their short way back to D'Avuzel.
Clapping thunder and charging lighting rained erroneous chaos among everyone that night. Scattering storms and rain splattered across Lyn and Ardine's corpses as the hooded figure and Abel departed in the shadows, disappearing in the night.
It was the endgame.