“Sovereign Queen Lorde!” Ide’s roar echoed amid the clash between the two Essence Thieves in front of Sith and me. Enveloping his right arm in wood to enlarge it, he charged across the snow-covered road.
Opposite him, Hitaki remained motionless atop the frozen fountain, calmly chanting her spell. “Ice Shield: Round.”
A massive magic circle unfolded between Hitaki and Ide, instantly solidifying into an icy shield.
Ide’s colossal arm, capable of crushing a house with ease, swung down and struck the massive shield Hitaki had conjured.
The collision of immense masses shook the entire royal capital. It felt like an earthquake powerful enough to cause fissures, yet Ide’s fist failed to shatter the shield. Facing ice unbroken by even a single crack, he prepared his next move.
“Truly worthy of being called the legendary Sovereign Queen Lorde! You won’t budge with brute force alone! So...next!”
“Ide! I’ll help you too!” Before Ide could do anything, Titee caught up. She positioned herself beside him, bayonet fixed, signaling her intent to fight alongside him.
But her brother tried to refuse. “Sis, please stand back! Leave this to me!” True to his earlier declaration, he vowed to hold his ground against the Sovereign Queen Lorde.
Titee shook her head with a delighted expression. “No, it’s fine now, Ide. You’ve already conquered yourself. The boy standing here is only my brother. A very strong, dependable, and proud brother. So...” Titee knew where Ide was headed now. Because she was no longer a child who knew nothing, she could gently guide him. “You mustn’t keep fighting alone. If you stubbornly persist in fighting alone, you’ll regret it like I do. Being alone is lonely. It’s terribly, terribly lonely. So let’s walk together.”
“Sis...?”
“Above all, this Sovereign Queen Lorde is something we two children created together. Therefore, it’s only right that we defeat it together. Wouldn’t you agree?” Titee proposed they fight together with her characteristic grin.
For a moment, Ide’s face darkened. Even from afar, I could clearly see his reluctance to expose his beloved sister to danger. Yet Titee showed neither anger nor exasperation, simply continuing to speak.
“Ide...let us return together.”
“Return together?”
“Yes, to our homeland. I wish to return! I wish to return with you, just the two of us! That’s why I came to fetch you!”
She poured out her heartfelt wish. It was no longer possible for Ide to continue fighting alone, driven by his own selfishness. He nodded obediently in return, voicing the exact same wish. “Yes! I want to go back with you too! I want to walk the same way home!”
“Then let’s go together! My brother, Ide!”
“Let us go together! My sister, Titee!”
And so, the Thief of Wood’s Essence and the Thief of Wind’s Essence—Guardians said to be capable of toppling a nation single-handedly—stood side by side to defeat their foe.
Confirming the increase in combatant numbers, the Sovereign Queen Lorde generated countless ice arrows in the air. It was a series of spells that seemed to say, If there are more enemies, then I’ll just have to defeat them simultaneously.
“Ice Arrow: Falling Flower.”
In an instant, ice arrows as numerous as falling snow filled the sky and rained down upon the siblings.
“Now then, sister! Please provide support! I’ll take the vanguard!!!” As he said this, Ide ran forward without hesitation. He transformed his tree-enhanced arm into a hooklike claw, signaling that he would take point.
“Okay! If it’s a shoot-out, I won’t lose! I’ll clear the way for you! Flying Bullet!” Pointing the bayonet on her arm toward the sky, Titee immediately fired a series of wind bullets. With a single shot, she shattered multiple ice arrows. Her aim was flawless. She struck only those that threatened the running Ide, carving a hollow path through the rain of arrows.
Trusting his sister’s power, Ide sprinted along that path without a moment’s hesitation. This flawless coordination forced Hitaki to construct yet another spell.
“Freeze Nibelheim.”
“Sittert Wynd!”
The barrier’s chill intensified. Yet, a gentle wind blew through it, countering the freezing cold that sought to bind Ide’s movements.
“As expected of my sister! All I need to do is keep moving straight ahead!” Ide raced down the path, reaching the enemy. Still, Hitaki stood atop her frozen fountain. To drag her down first, Ide slammed his arm against the fountain. Icicles shattered, fragments of ice scattering wildly.
Hitaki, who had remained motionless where she stood, was finally hurled into the air, and Ide lunged at her.
“Ix Blizzard.” Even as she fell, Hitaki calmly selected an appropriate spell. The blizzard struck the charging Ide. Perhaps due to the short casting time, it was a crude and weak spell, but it proved effective against Ide in midair, blowing him away without resistance. Thanks to her use of magic, Hitaki landed safely on the ground.
Meanwhile, the blown-away Ide landed, using Titee beneath him as a foothold. His feet pressed down on her arms as the siblings synchronized their breathing. Titee propelled her brother with both arms, and Ide leaped like he was bouncing off a trampoline.
“Blizzard!” Hitaki couldn’t build a large-scale spell fast enough to counter such a swift recovery. Though she fired an improvised ice spell, it was nullified by Ide’s fist. She had no choice but to keep building ice spells while naturally retreating.
The tide of battle shifted. Gradually, Hitaki’s responses fell behind, and Ide’s fists drew closer. The siblings’ perfectly timed combo attacks drove the enemy back. Within just a few exchanges, the tide had completely turned in the siblings’ favor. While the besieged Hitaki had no time to catch her breath, Ide and Titee had the leeway to converse mid-fight.
“Ha ha! Ha ha ha! We can do this! We can do it, Ide!”
“Yes! All this time, if we’d just fought together like this, it would’ve been fine for us!”
As if lamenting how precious this final moment was, the two exchanged words to make up for the time they’d missed up until now, even in the chaos of battle.
“Ha! Well now, Ide! Though we’re in the middle of a fight, there’s actually something I’ve wanted to ask you! Is that all right?”
“At a time like this?! Well, I suppose I have no choice! What is it, sister?!”
Right in front of the Sovereign Queen Lorde, in a fierce, high-speed battle, the two finally began chatting and laughing like children. I was dumbfounded by the sight of them. But I continued watching them, a slight smile on my lips.
“It’s about our journey so far! We’ve seen so many things! Just listen to me for a moment!”
“Yeah! I know! But I’ve seen and learned all sorts of things too, you know!”
“I saved many souls in the Dungeon! For every soul I couldn’t save a thousand years ago, I worked hard and saved more! How about that? Pretty amazing, huh?!”
“I healed countless unrewarded souls on the surface! I reached those I couldn’t touch a thousand years ago! Isn’t that great?!”
The two bragged back and forth while pushing forward relentlessly. The Sovereign Queen Lorde retreated along the pure white road. At this point, the battle was just an afterthought.
“After we got out of the Dungeon, yeah, we had a blast in the Allied Nations! It was so much fun!”
“I did whatever I wanted in the Allied Nations too! It was a year full of satisfaction!”
“We played around in Tiara’s cathedral! We went around seeing the magic that Tiara had created!”
“I’ve seen plenty of Lady Tiara’s legacy myself! Honestly, every single piece was magnificent!”
“Come to think of it, I even tried my hand at blacksmithing! Though I couldn’t match Vohlz, I forged a splendid sword! I entrusted it to my dear little sister!”
“I traveled far and wide, north and south, sharing my knowledge wherever I went! Naturally, I taught my proud students diligently along the way!”
Their chatter was too fast to catch easily. But knowing this was also their final testament, I strained to listen. I committed every detail to memory—their battle against the Sovereign Queen Lorde and their final, lighthearted exchange.
“Ah, thinking back, it was a long journey! So many truly painful moments! I can’t even count how many times I shed tears!”
“Yes, it truly was a long journey! How many times did I lose myself?! I caused everyone so much trouble!”
“I understand! Losing yourself is agonizing! It was so painful, I couldn’t breathe! But even so, what was truly important remained until the very end! Thanks to that, we were able to return!”
“That’s right! Even if we lose everything, some things never change! They’ve always been here, deep within our hearts! Thank you so much, grandfather and grandmother!”
“Yeah! Let’s show the world together what was truly important, right here, right now!”
“Yes, let’s shout it together! The story of us siblings! Everything, at last!”