Sylvain didn't hear what Astro had been muttering about Aetherkrone, but he kept his focus locked on Margrada.
"You know… I'm not sure if I can win against her. And there's also Lisa. I've never even seen her fight, but…" Sylvain didn't finish his sentence.
Astro didn't say anything to soothe him.
"Don't worry about it," he finally replied, calm as ever. "Someone else will take care of her if she makes another move."
As if on cue, the sound of footsteps echoed behind Lisa and Velmora.
Lisa wiped her tears and turned around to see one of the young wizards from Fiore — Hibiki, if she remembered correctly.
Velmora did not notice the presence behind her and murmured," It's unfortunate, no matter how much Sylvain tries, he can never win against my sister. It seems like it will be the end of…"
Before she could finish, a glowing yellow screen appeared in front of her.
"Explode," Hibiki whispered, not slowing his steps.
Lisa didn't realize what was about to happen — but on instinct, she tried to push Velmora away.
The screen detonated.
The blast hurled Velmora backward, leaving her completely unresponsive.
Lisa panicked, rushing to her side to check if she was still breathing.
Looking down at Velmora's limp body, she couldn't help but remember the day when Velmora's and Margrada's mother, Vermica, had lain dead before her.
The beginning of her hell.
"She's okay," Hibiki said gently, seeing Lisa's expression. "I didn't use much magic for that attack. After all, it pains me to hurt a beautiful lady. So, Miss Lisa, if you feel sorry for me, could you please refrain from interfering anymore? I can tell you're not enjoying what you've been forced to do."
Lisa's eyes widened slightly. Then, she stood up, facing Hibiki, leaving Velmora on the floor.
"I have no choice," she muttered, voice trembling. "I've already done too many wrong things for my father… there's no going back."
Her emerald eyes glowed fiercely as she lifted her head, glaring at Hibiki.
"Protect!"
Hibiki instantly created a yellow screen before him to defend against her mind control magic — but Lisa's target wasn't him.
It was the captured wizards behind him.
"When a person has no will," Lisa whispered under her breath, "they're easy to manipulate and control."
Hibiki didn't have time to process her words — about twenty captured wizards suddenly stood up, their empty eyes locked onto him in perfect unison.
"Well… that's something we can both agree on," Hibiki muttered, forcing a grin as he braced himself.
He raised another screen and prepared for the barrage of attacks from all the mind-controlled wizards.
"Well, your friend doesn't look so good," Sylvain said dryly to Astro, watching from afar.
Astro only replied vaguely, "It's fine. His magic is the perfect counter to mind control."
Astro didn't even glance at Hibiki; his eyes were on Riser, who had finally stopped circling.
He could sense Margrada halting as well behind him.
"If you're worried about your ex-girlfriend," Astro said with a half-smile, "then end your fight quickly."
In the next instant, he dashed forward — Riser mirrored his charge.
Both met in the middle, Astro's fist coated with purple wind, slamming into the glowing Aetherkrone.
"This will be our last fight," Astro said, with a smile as his free hand gathered a surge of magic. "So give it everything you've got, old man."
Sylvain, meanwhile, didn't move.
He stood still, waiting — letting Margrada come to him.
And that's exactly what she did.
Margrada lunged forward, her eyes burning with venom.
"I'm not going to lose to a fool who's been protected all his life in a fancy castle!" she hissed as she appeared in front of Sylvain.
"Blight Chains!"
Two black chains erupted from Margrada's palms, writhing like living serpents as she swung them toward Sylvain.
He barely managed to dodge one — but the other slashed across his right cheek.
The mere touch of the chain seared through his flesh, instantly corroding a chunk of his face.
Sylvain winced, green smoke hissing from the wound as he forced his healing magic to kick in. His eyes sharpened, and he widened his stance.
"Aether Scythe!"
A brilliant green scythe materialized in his hands, the blade humming with condensed wind. He gripped it with both hands and swung repeatedly toward Margrada.
But Margrada moved effortlessly — each swing missing her by inches. With a flick of her wrist, one of her black chains lashed out and coiled around the scythe's handle.
The weapon hissed — and then dissolved into green smoke before Sylvain's surprised eyes.
Sylvain immediately stepped forward and threw a sharp kick toward Margrada's face, but she leapt back gracefully, the black chains fading away as she landed on her feet..
"Black Requiem!"
Margrada did not waste any time and raised her right palm toward the ceiling. A massive black magic circle appeared above.. From it, countless black droplets began to fall — raining down like ink towards Sylvain..
Sylvain's eyes widened. He knew he couldn't escape the attack's range in time.
He thrust both arms upward, summoning his own magic. A glowing green circle, perfectly matching the black one's size, formed above his palms.
"Aether Cyclone!"
A roaring green vortex of wind exploded upward, swallowing the falling black rain. For a brief moment, the two magics spiraled together violently — then Sylvain redirected the raging cyclone downward toward Margrada with her own magic still inside of it.
Margrada clicked her tongue in irritation, realizing that this fight won't end fast.
"Black Rotten Prism!"
She conjured a towering wall made of black, glass-like material before her — thousands of translucent shards fusing into a glimmering fortress.
The green tornado slammed into the black prism wall, but instead of shattering it, the wind dissolved upon contact, evaporating into emerald mist.
Margrada smirked as she extended her hand. The wall began to move, collapsing inward and pushing toward Sylvain from all directions like a tightening cage of death.
Sylvain looked around as the prism walls closed in, their edges cracking with decay magic.
Margrada's smile widened.
"Just give up, you have no chance to defeat me… fallen prince. Why delay the inevitable?"
Hibiki, in the meantime, watched as all the wizards around him began to rise—eyes blank, movements stiff, surrounding him and Lisa like puppets..
"Burning Arrow!"
One of the mind-controlled wizards fired several blazing arrows toward him.
"Protect!" Hibiki summoned a yellow barrier, blocking the strike—only to sense another wizard rushing in from behind, his arm coated in metal.
Hibiki jumped upward just as the punch tore through the air beneath him.
"Light Rays!"
"Wind Cyclone!"
Attacks came from all directions.
"Platform!" Hibiki formed several glowing yellow screens sideways in midair and jumped between them to evade the incoming spells.
"I don't have enough magic for a long fight," he thought, eyes narrowing. "I need to end this quickly—and efficiently. I can't enter their minds if they resist… but right now, they have no willpower of their own to block me."
Below, Lisa clenched her teeth. No matter how hard she tried, her attacks couldn't land—Hibiki always managed to dodge, as if he could predict where the next attack was going to come from.
The captured wizards, weakened from long imprisonment and the magic-suppressing cuffs, couldn't cast anything stronger than basic spells. Yet Lisa had to keep forcing them to fight, controlling them like a horde of empty shells.
Hibiki looked at her steadily. "You know, I'm not as good as you when it comes to mind magic… but I do know one of its biggest weaknesses."
Lisa's expression shifted slightly. She watched him leap between platforms, getting closer to one of the wizards under her control. She didn't know what he meant by "weakness," but instinct screamed that she couldn't let him reach that wizard.
"Wolf Fang!"
The controlled wizard's arm morphed into a wolf's claw and lunged toward Hibiki. He barely dodged, flipping over the attack and landing behind the man before pressing both hands against his head.
Lisa looked confused, "If you're planning to take control from me, that won't work." She funneled even more magic into the link, strengthening her hold on that wizard.
Hibiki smiled tiredly. "No… quite the opposite."
"Archive: Information Transfer!"
A huge load of useless data flooded through the mind-link—names, numbers, images, random information—rushing into the controlled wizards' minds and then straight into Lisa's, since she was still connected to all of them.
Her eyes widened as pain shot through her skull.
"The mind magic is a two-way broadcast," Hibiki explained through labored breaths. "To control them properly, you need to receive their thoughts too. So go ahead—take as much information as you want… can you handle it?"
Lisa screamed, unable to process the overwhelming flood of nonsense. In her desperation, she unconsciously severed the mental connections to every wizard she was controlling. One by one, they collapsed to the ground, freed from her control.
She gasped for breath—her mind spinning, her vision flickering. When she looked up, Hibiki was already standing in front of her.
"Sorry, my lady," he said quietly, his tone sincere. "I can see the sorrow in your eyes. But while it pains me to strike such a beautiful woman… If I let you go, i will put my own friends in danger."
Lisa's mind buzzed with static from the overload of thoughts. She tried to focus on him—barely able to keep her eyes open.
"Remember," Hibiki said softly, his voice almost kind, "you should always follow your heart. No matter how many mistakes you've made… It's never too late to change."
Lisa raised her arms to defend herself—but stopped midway.
Hibiki's fist connected with her face.
She flew backward from the impact, the world spinning around her. Her consciousness began to fade—drained by the mental backlash and the strain of her overused magic.
As darkness closed in, fragments of memory resurfaced.
She remembered being a child, dreaming of becoming a great wizard like her father… dreaming of standing by Sylvain's side forever. But those dreams had twisted into chains. She couldn't refuse her father's greed—she had used her powers to control other people's minds in the royal castle and beyond, helping her father and Margrada tighten their grip on power.
She should have refused. She should have run away.
But she had been too young to understand the weight of what she was doing.
And even if she had escaped… where could she have gone?
She had already committed crimes against the royal family, against the entire Joya Kingdom.
No one would forgive her.
Not even Sylvain.
That was why she'd pushed away every proposal from him—why she couldn't bring herself to fully accept his love, even though she never stopped feeling it.
In her fading mind, another memory formed—clearer, warmer.
A little girl crying in a garden after being beaten by her father for hesitating to extract information from Vermica, the mother of Velmora and Margrada.
Through blurry eyes, she saw a boy running toward her.
"What, you're crying again? I told you, your eyes will swell if you cry too much!"
A soft green light glowed from his hands as he healed her bruises. She tried to stop her tears—but that gentle voice only made her cry harder.
"Wait—don't cry. What happened this time? Do you need… some candy?"
The young Sylvain panicked, running in circles around her. The young Lisa couldn't help it—she laughed through her tears, watching him flail in worry.
Sylvain froze, then started laughing too, relief lighting up his face.
When they finally calmed down, he asked again, "So why are you crying, really?"
Lisa hesitated. She remembered her father's threats, the noble she had indirectly caused to die, the fear of rejection that haunted her.
Would Sylvain still play with her if he knew?
"I was thinking," she said, forcing a pout, "that I'll have to babysit you for the rest of my life. So I couldn't help but cry."
A vein popped on young Sylvain's forehead. "What? You're younger than me, idiot! I'm the one doing the babysitting!"
"No, I am doing it!" she argued. "Look at your hair—it's a mess. And you didn't button your shirt properly! Who are you trying to impress?"
"Wait—don't touch me there!" Sylvain blushed furiously as she fixed his buttons, and for a brief, precious moment, Lisa forgot all her pain.
The present-day Lisa smiled faintly as her eyes fluttered shut from exhaustion.
I wish I could go back… and live those moments all over again.
A single tear rolled down her cheek as darkness took her.
Sylvain took one last look at Lisa before turning his attention back to the black prism walls surrounding him.
"I have a lot of mistakes I need to correct before I die," he muttered, eyes narrowing as the walls of black glass closed in from every direction. His irises glowed a fierce emerald green, the wind around him trembling as rage burned within him.
"We grew up together… but the foolish me never noticed just how much you were pushed to make those choices."
Sylvain's right hand began to glow brighter, the green aura swirling violently around his arm.
"How can be a good king?" he whispered, "If I can't even protect the people closest to me… and let them fall into darkness instead?"
His eyes grew bright green as he slammed his fist forward into the oncoming wall.
"Radiant Fist!"
A deafening blast followed. Green winds exploded outward, shattering the black prisms into fragments that scattered like obsidian rain.
Sylvain dashed forward, zigzagging through the debris with lightning speed until he appeared right in front of Margrada.
"Black Wither Spikes!"
The ground beneath her cracked as several black spikes shot up toward him. Sylvain weaved between them effortlessly, the air streaking green behind him.
Margrada narrowed her eyes and conjured another spike directly from her palm, thrusting it toward his chest. The blade pierced through his side, tearing through flesh and muscle—barely missing his heart.
Sylvain gritted his teeth but didn't stop. Ignoring the pain, he raised both arms outward, forming two massive green wind orbs—larger than himself—each spinning violently in opposite directions.
He slammed both palms together.
"Aether Impact!"
"W–Wait—!"
Before Margrada could react, the two converging wind spheres collided, and the resulting explosion engulfed her.
The impact tore through the air, sending green shockwaves across the entire hall. Margrada's body was flung backward, dozens of gashes cutting across her arms and torso. She tried to heal herself through clenched teeth, but Sylvain gave her no time.
He rushed in again and punched her square in the face, the blow strong enough to smash her through the wall behind her, scattering shards of stone everywhere.
Breathing hard, Sylvain refused to let her catch her breath.
He brought both palms together, gathering concentrated magic between them.
"Aether Radiant Flare!"
A storm of compressed green wind bullets burst forward like railgun bullets, ripping through the air toward Margrada as she staggered to her feet. The sheer wind pressure alone sent her sky-blue hair streaming backward.
Margrada grinned—a wild, manic grin.
"Looks like you are not as bad as I thought."
"Dead Zone!"
A huge black dome expanded around her, swallowing all of Sylvain's attacks. As each wind bullet entered the zone, it slowed… and then vanished completely.
Margrada laughed, her grin twisting with arrogance. "This is getting fun. I never thought the foolish prince could still fight like this! But it's useless—no magic can touch me inside this domain!"
Sylvain glared, eyes narrowing. The emerald light in his right hand blazed even brighter. He crouched and slammed his palm into the ground.
"Supreme Aether Cyclone"
The earth cracked violently under the impact.
Margrada did not realize what he was trying to do, but she got chills as she looked down.
A massive fissure spread beneath her feet—then erupted upward into a spiraling green tornado.
The vortex rose faster than her decay magic could react, tearing through her Dead Zone and swallowing her whole before she could destroyl it.
"Damn it! This attack… did it form faster than my magic could destroy it!?" she cursed, spinning violently inside the roaring winds.
She tried to stabilize herself midair, twisting her body to land on her feet. But before she could, Sylvain was already moving.
His long, emerald hair flowed wildly upward as the ground beneath him shattered. In a blur of green light, he vanished—reappearing above Margrada as she spun helplessly in midair.
"Wha—?!"
Before Margrada could even comprehend what was happening, Sylvain appeared above her, arm extended, palm aimed straight at her direction.
"Your weakness," he said calmly, voice steady over the roaring wind, "is that you still don't understand why you're fighting, Margrada."
"But I do. I fight because I can not afford to lose. I want to become the protector of my people… to follow the legacy of my father and my brother."
Sylvain's eyes flicked briefly toward Lisa's fallen body below.. His expression hardened, wind spiraling around him like a storm ready to break.
"And above all—" he said, voice rising—
"I want to correct every mistake… born from my own foolishness."
Margrada could feel the insane amount of ethernano Sylvain was gathering. The sheer pressure made even her tremble. She landed on both feet, realizing she couldn't afford to take his next attack lightly.
"Tell me, Margrada," Sylvain shouted, voice echoing through the shattered hall, "why are you fighting!?"
The question caught her off guard. For a moment, her mind faltered.
She tried to answer — for my father, or for myself, perhaps to enjoy the power and reputation that comes with being the winner— but the words felt hollow.
No matter how she tried to justify it, the truth refused to take shape. Something inside her felt… missing.
Sylvain narrowed his glowing eyes. "I won't lose," he declared. "Not against someone who doesn't even know what they're fighting for!"
Margrada's eyes widened as Sylvain's aura flared violently.
"Aether Heavenfall Cannon!"
A massive sphere of green wind — shaped like a cannonball and several times larger than Sylvain himself — materialized before his fist and dropped toward Margrada at a speed that defied its size.
Margrada tried to move, but it was futile. The air pressure alone locked her body in place. She couldn't even lift a finger.
Her lungs constricted under the crushing weight of the incoming attack.
She forced herself to calm down. But her magic flow was unstable, surging wildly against her will. Her own decay magic resisted her commands.
But through sheer willpower, she steadied her breathing and thrust her palm forward, facing Sylvain's attack.
"Death Spiral Dominion!"
A colossal sphere of black-and-blue decay energy burst from her hand — matching the size of Sylvain's cannonball — and she hurled it upward.
The two attacks collided.
The impact was cataclysmic.
The collision tore apart the entire chamber, obliterating the floor, walls, and even the neighboring rooms.
Astro and Riser shielded their faces as the shockwave swept past them. Hibiki raised multiple golden screens to protect everyone nearby — even Lisa and Velmora, who lay unconscious.
Margrada smirked when she saw her attack starting to destroy Sylvain's cannonball bit by bit.
But her confidence froze the instant she saw him falling with it — his hand pressing against the glowing green sphere, pushing even more magic into it with his palm.
The cannonball flared brighter, expanding violently.
Margrada's eyes widened in disbelief. "That's—!"
She pushed back with everything she had, forcing her decay magic into her own sphere, but then—
from the corner of her eye, she saw Velmora lying on the ground, barely protected under a flickering yellow barrier.
For a brief moment, she hesitated.
And that was all Sylvain needed.
"This is for all the pain you've caused everyone, Margrada!" he roared, his voice shaking the room as his attack broke through hers.
The Aether Heavenfall Cannon descended completely, swallowing Margrada's magic and detonating on impact.
A blinding green light engulfed the royal palace, followed by a tremendous shockwave. Wind burst outward from every corridor and shattered every window inside the palace.
Outside, guards clung to the walls and pillars as the gale swept through the courtyard.
"What's happening?! Is this from the intruding wizards?" one guard shouted, barely hanging on.
"Who knows!" another guard barked back, sweat dripping down his face. "But we should stay out of this! If we intervene now, we'll just get in their way!"
Inside the remains of the throne room, the dust slowly began to settle.
Sylvain landed heavily, panting, his body trembling from exhaustion. As the adrenaline drained away, only pain and fatigue remained.
He lifted his gaze. Margrada was still standing — barely.
Her body was covered in deep cuts, blood trickling down her arms and legs. Her elegant clothes hung in tatters, her once-glorious sky blue hair matted with dust and ash.
Sylvain staggered, dropping to one knee. Margrada took a shaky step forward.
He tried to gather magic again, but his body wouldn't respond. His breath came out ragged, his magic flow erratic. Still, he refused to lose consciousness just when he was about to win.
"...Velmora."
Sylvain looked up, surprised.
"She's innocent," Margrada whispered, voice breaking. "Father and I… we made her follow our orders. She never wanted to. She only ever wanted to marry your brother… but she couldn't muster the courage to disobey me."
Margrada stumbled closer, then dropped to her knees in front of him.
"So please," she said, as blood drooped on the floor from her forehead, "take my life instead. Let her go. Just like Lisa… she was only a pawn. Let her live a little longer, even if it's without me."
Her strength finally gave out, and she slumped forward, her face hitting the cracked floor.
Sylvain stood over her, chest heaving, sweat and blood running down his skin.
"If she's truly innocent," he said softly, "then I'd never harm her. You have my word."
Margrada let out a faint laugh, her lips curling weakly.
"Heh… you really are going to be such a foolish king."
She hadn't expected him to accept her plea so easily. As darkness crept in, she managed a final smile. Whether she would ever wake up again, she didn't know—but at least Velmora would live.
Sylvain looked down at her unconscious form, a weary smile tugging at his lips.
"It's alright," he whispered. "I used to think I was smart when I always ignored the pain of everyone besides me, to not let it cloud my decisions.… but now, I'd rather be a fool—one who can understand the pain others carry, not just my own."