“What’re you complainin’ about?” she sneered. “You’re the one who gave it to me.”
It had happened just a few short hours prior, after Kaguya had split off to fight Vito. In order to make up for the girl’s absence, Lyra had moved up to the front lines…or so she had made it seem. In truth, she had been aiming for a specific moment.
“Raaaahhh!!”
“A shield bash? Are you playing dwarf, prum?”
At that time, it was this very same shield that Lyra had used to attack Alfia. And so the shield had come into contact with the witch’s magical barrier!
“You mean, back then…?!”
“Perseus worked together with that Cyclops to make it happen. This shield can steal any magic spell… Well, it could until it broke.”
Finn had already informed Lyra about Alfia’s spell far in advance. As the witch seethed, the prum calmly explained how she had performed her trick.
“Hermes gave us the design. It’s based on one of Zeus’s old shields. What did he call it again…?”
Lyra paused for a moment, then grinned.
“Oh yeah. Aegis—that was it.”
“Hrh…?!”
That was the name of a legendary artifact passed down by Zeus Familia. A shield that could ward off any calamity and could even reflect a petrifying gaze back at its wielder. There wasn’t a single member of Hera Familia who didn’t fear its awesome might.
“Alize! Leon! Now’s your chance,” she cried. “Beat her to a sorry pulp!”
Right after Alfia’s ultimate spell was blocked and the magical aura around her died down, the witch began spluttering blood. It was then, in her moment of weakness, that the two girls rushed in to finish her off.
Two swords of justice, and one of order, each draped in their own bearer’s magical enchantments.
The light of stardust and petals of crimson. Lyu and Alize ran like the wind, like the roaring flames, into the opening that Alfia had finally conceded.
Ultra-close range…
Alfia already knew.
There’s no avoiding it!
She already knew where those blades of justice would fall.
“Luminous Wind!”
“Arveria!”
A blazing gale swept the land. The pair’s combined attack was accompanied by a barrage of magic that seared the Level 7’s flesh.
The attack resulted in a flash of fire and starlight, compounding its devastation. Sparks flew from the point of impact, showering the floor in shooting stars, and everything disappeared in a huge cloud of dust.
The floor of the Dungeon shook, and the girls of Astrea Familia had to hit the deck to avoid being blown away. The rumbling continued for some time, even after the wind had completely died down. The sheer force dislodged several crystals from the ceiling, which fell and shattered nearby.
Soon the earthquake stopped, time began flowing again, and the cloud of dust began to settle, revealing Lyu, bent down on one knee, and Alize, using her sword as a crutch.
“Did we…get her?” asked Neze, still uncertain whether to be hopeful.
“If not, then we’re really screwed…” muttered Lyra, watching the dust cloud closely for any signs of movement.
It was Kaguya who spoke next.
“There’s no need to worry,” she said, glaring across the battlefield. Where her gaze fell, the witch slowly fell to the ground.
“Ghah…! Hrg…”
Alfia was sliced, burned, beaten, and spluttering blood. Death was coming, and it was only a matter of time before it arrived. She kneeled, both hands on the ground, her dress tattered and torn, defeated just short of attaining her goal.
“Haah… haah…!” Lyu panted, slowly staggering to her feet. “Alfia…!”
“We’ve won,” said Alize, drenched in sweat from head to toe.
“Cough! Cough! …Hrgh…hgh…hgh…”
Alfia’s blood spilled from her lips, onto a floor almost as torn as she was. After a short moment, a smile, fleeting and almost imperceptible, appeared on her lips.
“…Yes,” she said. “You’ve won.”
She rose to her feet, as though her body weighed nothing at all. Almost like the soul had already left her.
“What truly…noisy brats,” she said. “You did………you did well, to defeat evil…”
As the dancing sparks illuminated her fragile form, the ashen witch bestowed her blessing upon the travelers who had bested her.
“Alfia…”
Lyu didn’t dare move a muscle. What she and her friends had achieved was nothing less than impossible. Alfia was an unbeatable foe, and yet with enough determination and tenacity, they had beaten her. It had taken all their wisdom and knowledge. Their pride and bravery. Strong will and determination. But it was done.
Though the Great Conflict had left them mired in despair, they had risen above it.
That was the only reason they were still alive now. That simple, stubborn purity of will had allowed justice to go on.
“I have…one last thing to say…” said the witch, like a blasted tree about to crumble in the wind. “…Do not…forget this. Do not…forget my fate. This…is what awaits you all in the end…when the Black Dragon comes.”
“Rgh…”
“That is how fragile…and fickle a thing…justice truly is.”
The former hero left her final warning.
Here was a woman who had fought to save the world, who had gazed upon despair and been forever changed by it. The polite trappings of justice were not enough to sway her mind.
“However…”
As the girls all stood there in shock, Alfia mustered a smile.
“Even if all returns to ash, the path you girls have walked will not be in vain.”
““““!!””””
“If justice can indeed be passed on, then find hope…”
“Alfia…” muttered Lyu.
“Gather it all together…and raise the final hero…”
She was still smiling. Her bicolored eyes were distant, as though she could see where she was headed next.
She imparted her wishes to the elven girl’s heart. Engraved them on the inside of a shell of despair that would surely one day be opened.
“…Got it,” said Alize. “We’ll remember you…and what you just told us.”
Alfia gave a gentle smile and closed her eyes.
Then she turned her back on the girls and started walking, leaving a trail of bloody footprints across the shattered earth.
“Alfia! Where are you going?!” Lyu called out after her, but the woman didn’t respond. Not before she reached the edge of a deep, dark pit—the tunnel to the lower depths that Delphyne had wrought with fire. The molten rock walls were fluid and smooth, and even now gouts of flames spewed forth from it, as though it were an abyss terminating in the very pits of hell itself.
“I always wished to be consigned to ash,” the witch explained, “just as she was.”
She peered over the edge, toward the pit’s invisible bottom.
“Farewell, followers of justice. Farewell, Orario.”
Lyu finally snapped out of her stupor as she realized what the witch was planning. She began sprinting, but it was clear she would not make it in time.
Alfia turned back and offered the girls a smile.
“The future…is in your hands now.”
With that, she tipped herself from the precipice. In a matter of moments, she was swallowed by the flames, incinerating her hair, her clothes, and even her flesh.
And then she was gone, removed from this world by the judgmental fires of hell. Lyu kneeled at the edge of the pit, the sight of Alfia’s death forever burned into her eyes.
And in her memory still rang the words she swore she heard, right at the very end.
“Ah, Metelia, my beloved sister…”
“At last, at last, I can be with you once more…”