Chapter Five 

The Final Battle, Powered by Memories

I first met Yukihime Yukigane in the worst way possible. As soon as we saw each other, we fought a violent battle, until I managed to win with the Ruinmaker’s help. For a while after that, I thought she was a total jerk. Even after we started living together, she’d get on my case about every little thing. It seemed like she was really bent out of shape over being defeated for the first time in her life.

I fought her so many times. But no matter how many times I tried, I could never beat her without the Ruinmaker. I lost again and again, and at some point, I started challenging her on purpose. At first, I was just frustrated – even when Towa got kidnapped. Yukihime and I fought desperately and saved Towa. But of course I had been desperate. She was my only remaining family member, and we had been together since birth, so I was on the verge of losing my mind.

For as long as I could remember, I had wanted to protect my sister. Perhaps it was my instinct as her older brother, or even the whole reason I was alive. I didn’t need a reason, though – protecting Towa was something I did unconsciously.

And there was more to our relationship than that. Whenever I saw her smile, it filled me with power. No matter how much pain I was in, thinking of Towa gave me the strength to continue on. That’s why it should have been my job to save her... but Yukihime beat me to it.

It wasn’t fair. It hurt even worse than whenever she beat me in a fight. Why did she get to save Towa? Also, I just couldn’t understand it. Why did she have to go so far? I wished we could have traded places. How could she sacrifice so much for the sake of her duty?

A while later, she explained why. And all of a sudden, I realized I had fallen in love with her. Not because she saved my sister – I fell in love with the way she lived her life... and...

When I awoke, I was crying.

As my mind faded back into reality, I remembered what had happened before I collapsed – Yukihime’s final moments.

She looked so happy, so satisfied.

“...Why, Yukihime?” I muttered. Tears spilled out from my eyes.

I awoke in a hospital bed. I was in the academy infirmary, and Towa was sleeping face down next to me.

“Mmm...” Towa slowly sat up. She stared at me with drowsy eyes, and the moment she fully opened them, she started to cry. “...Big brother!” She came in for a hug, but the moment she touched me, she froze. “...Oh no, wait. You’re all hurt, aren’t you?”

“It’s okay.”

“It won’t hurt?”

“I don’t care if it hurts.”

I pulled Towa toward me, and hugged her. I was covered in wounds, but my heart was in even worse condition. It had been ripped to shreds, crushed beyond all recognition. But I still had Towa. Towa was still alive. As if to ascertain this, I clutched her with my left hand.

“Big brother... Yukihime, Yukihime, she...” Towa sobbed.

“It’s okay. You don’t need to say anything.” I started to cry.

And so, we cried in silence, all alone.

Towa always spoke very politely to everyone but me, and Yukihime was no exception. After we lost our parents, Towa didn’t open up to anyone. She couldn’t trust people anymore. After watching her parents die right before her eyes, and witnessing pure evil in that organization day after day, Towa’s heart had been completely shattered.

Until she met Yukihime. Until that day, I thought I’d never see Towa laugh or cry again. I thought that reliving our days of happiness in my mind would be the only solace I’d ever have.

When she met Yukihime, Towa changed. I think I changed, too. Yukihime even said it herself. We both changed, and she’s the one who made it happen. I thought that Towa would never open up to anyone aside from me ever again, but that hadn’t been the case with Yukihime. There was no way we’d ever be able to thank her for all she’d done for us.

“...Hey, Towa. What do you want to do now?” I asked Towa, after we shared a cry.

“What do you mean?”

“I want to defeat that guy.”

“...Me too.”

“Will you lend me your power again?”

“Of course.”

Towa and I nodded deeply to one another. Then, we heard a knock on the door.

“Have you awakened, Kurono?” Nagisaki asked as he came in. “Sorry to call on you so soon, but I’d like you to come with me.”

After changing into my school uniform and attaching a temporary prosthetic arm, I followed Nagisaki out of the infirmary. I had a feeling as to where he was leading me.

“...Yukihime told me that if something ever happened to her, she wanted you to become Headmaster.”

Headmaster. The leader of the academy, tasked with defending the world against otherworld invasions.

“Since you’re Rank #2 within the academy, I’m sure the Council of Seven Houses will approve it.”

“You want me to become Headmaster?” So that’s what she meant when she said she was entrusting her duty to me... “...Sorry, but that’s not for me.”

“Yeah,” Nagisaki quietly agreed. “Now I’d like to talk to you about a personal matter.” He stopped walking and turned to me. “...What I’m going to say to you now is nothing more than an awful, petty, conceited way of taking my anger out on someone,” he said, then grabbed my collar and screamed: “Why didn’t you protect Yukihime?!”

With his hand still on my collar, Nagisaki slammed me into the wall. “I’m weaker than you... So I couldn’t stand by her side... So I have no right to judge you. But that’s why I want to say this... You’re the only one I can say it to! Why, Kurono?! Why... You’re stronger than me, and you were right next to her! Why...”

I couldn’t fault Nagisaki, no matter how awful, petty, or conceited he thought he was being. And so I listened. It was all I could do. Not only did he have feelings for Yukihime, just like I did – we both admired her strength, too.

“...Sorry. Apologizing is all I can do now...”

If I had been stronger, this would have never happened.

“I don’t need your apology.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“I could become the Headmaster, you know. I’m the leader of the Nagisaki House, and Rank #3 within the academy. In terms of social status, I’m more fit for the post than you are. But...” Nagisaki began, as he stared at me with tears in his eyes. “I want you to do it. I don’t care if you don’t think you’re cut out for it. You don’t need to apologize to me. Just make sure you finish everything that Yukigane wasn’t able to.”

I’m sure he wasn’t lying about how he was taking his anger out me. But that wasn’t all there was to this... Nagisaki was trying to encourage me as well. He really did care for Yukihime. He understood why she was such an amazing person. He was a man who had loved the same woman I did – How could I refuse him?

“Okay... Thanks, Nagisaki.”

“No need to thank me. I was only speaking my mind.”

...Yet another person who needs to be more honest with himself.

I followed Nagisaki to the meeting room where the Council of Seven Houses met. There, I was instated as the new Headmaster. After the meeting, Nagisaki handed me a long attaché case.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Just open it,” he said.

Inside was a metallic blue twinblade.

“It’s your star armament,” Nagisaki said. “I had the star sorcerer smith division repair it as quickly as possible. They used parts of Yukigane’s star armament to finish it off. Apparently, its new name is Chronoslayer: Glacies.”

“Parts from Snowbloom...” I murmured.

I gripped the metallic blue blade. It melted into light and dissolved. Just like the original Chronoslayer, I could store it and bring it out whenever I wanted to.

Now we’ll always be together.

For a moment, I almost thought I heard Yukihime’s voice. It felt so strange – like exactly the right cogs had fit together inside me. I hadn’t experienced this with the man who Redge called Zol, who happened to be the last person I killed. Yukihime’s power must have made some special link with me. It was an exception to the norm.

Now, I had a metallic blue twinblade, and the power Yukihime had given to me. Suddenly, a star sorcery spell flashed in the back of my mind. How much star power did I need to devote to it? How much did I need to emit? What sort of preparation did it take, and what sort of effect did it have? Immediately, I understood everything.

This is what Yukihime gave to me. This is what I inherited from her.

The spell’s name was Absolute Zero – the ultimate star sorcery spell, which had the power to stop time. This is the key to defeating Redge. I unconsciously clenched my right hand.

“You’d better win this, Kurono.”

“Leave it to me.”

I thrust out my fist. Nagisaki did the same, and our fists bumped together.

Afterwards, Towa and I went back to our house and made preparations. We decided to spend the night at the academy so that we’d be able to react immediately whenever Redge returned.

“I told Nagisaki to leave it to me, but... How am I going to fight this guy? How can I beat him?” Even though I had gained Yukihime’s power, I couldn’t just run in there without a plan.

“Actually, big brother... I’ve been keeping a secret from you.”

It turned out that Azur Étoile’s Ruinmaker – Towa – had one special feature that other Ruinmakers didn’t. It was something that supplemented her ability to transform into anything, as long as her user possessed enough star power and wished hard enough.

Towa’s unique power allowed her to instantly regenerate any part of her that got destroyed. Normally, star armaments rarely got damaged that badly, but in order to regenerate a broken one, a star sorcerer would have to first release it, then wait for it to recover. With Towa, there was no need to wait at all. “Why didn’t you tell me about it until now?”

“...Because you’re so overprotective. If there was a chance of me getting destroyed, I figured you’d just get mad and tell me to stop and rest instead of regenerating.”

“Yeah, I guess I would. You’re right. I wouldn’t say it now, though, because I’d need you to keep fighting while I rest...”

In order to activate the regeneration, the Ruinmaker needed to first be deactivated and then transformed back into a weapon – which could be done in a split second. If this goes well, it’ll be the perfect way to corner that guy.

I also had access to Absolute Zero, the time freeze star sorcery I inherited from Yukihime. To use it, I first needed to break my twinblade. It was an integral movement, since breaking the blades representing clock hands was like forcing time itself to stop flowing. Since I had just two blades, I could only do this twice. And once I did it, I would no longer be able to speed up or slow down anything for the remainder of the battle.

Instant regeneration and the ability to stop time... With both of those on my side, maybe I really can defeat someone who seems invincible. As I tried to suppress my excitement, I saw Towa walk out of Yukihime’s room carrying a present.

“I’m not sure it’s okay for me to give this to you, but I know it was meant for you.”

Inside the wrapping was a crimson scarf. There was also a message card inside.

Become a man who looks good in this, it read.

“...” My eyes shot to the calendar.

Oh yeah... Today’s Christmas, isn’t it? Geez... You got me a scarf, too?

“Towa, you knew about this?”

“Yeah, she asked me for advice...”

So that’s why Towa kept suggesting I buy a scarf when we went shopping together.

“I thought it’d look really nice if you had matching ones,” she said.

“Yeah, I bet it would have...”

Yukihime had said she liked the color red, since it was the color that heroes always wore. She didn’t have her own red scarf, though. She said that red didn’t look good on her... I disagreed.

I understood what this present meant. Yukihime wanted me to become a hero.

Oh, I will. Just you watch.

With a silent promise in my heart, I put on the scarf.

It truly felt like our battle was just around the corner now. We returned to the academy several hours later. The sun had sunken down, and the sky was bathed in twilight. Suddenly, I felt intense star power, and I knew exactly who it belonged to.

“Towa, we need to win this.”

“...Yeah. We can do this, big brother.”

This day was supposed to be for her. Instead, we were celebrating Christmas without her.

And so, the final battle began.

“Back so soon?” I asked.

“I have a skilled subordinate who can use healing star sorcery,” Redge replied.

“...No wonder you look like you’re in perfect condition.”

It had only been one day, yet he looked completely healed. As he said, he must have had very skilled subordinates on his side. We had some skilled people at the academy as well, but my body was still hurting in several places. I had used too many spells that put a strain on my body, and one day wasn’t enough to recover from all the damage, even with the help of healing star sorcery.

“I told you I’d be back in no time to end this,” Redge said. “It doesn’t matter how much damage I may have accrued... I came here to kill you as quickly as possible.”

“Fine by me. I want to end this just as much as you do.”

“Liberation – Khaos Ende Schwert.” Redge brandished his massive blade.

“Let’s go, Towa.”

“...Okay!”

“Liberation – Ruinmaker.”

Towa’s body faded into light, then transformed into my right arm. I clenched my right fist, and again, that voice echoed in my mind.

Kill.

“...Shut up.” I forced the side effect of the Ruinmaker’s power out of my mind. This is my... no, our battle. It has nothing to do with you, Ruin.

Then, I extended my right hand. Yukihime... Lend me your strength.

“Liberation – Chronoslayer: Glacies.” I brandished my metallic blue twinblade.

“I never told you my name, did I?” Redge asked.

“Go ahead. I have a name to give you as well.”

Redge swung his sword down and began to speak in a commanding voice. “I am Redge Ferimento, the Dark Emperor of Khaos Schwartz. The man you killed was Zolminal Radius, and I have come to avenge my mentor’s death!”

“I’m Kokuya Kurono, the Headmaster of Azur Étoile. I’ve come here to finish what Yukihime started!”

“Oh? You succeeded her on the throne? I don’t think you’re fit to inherit that title... Time for you to die and relinquish it.”

With that, our battle began.

The golden line that ran down my silver arm was glowing blindingly bright. I spun my twinblade to the right and sped up my body. When I stepped forward, my immense star power created a small crater below me. Like a bullet, I shot forward and instantly closed the distance between us. My unprecedented speed made Redge’s eyes widen, but it wasn’t enough to make a man like him falter. As soon as I reached him, Redge’s silver star power burst out, creating a hurricane of invisible blades.

I quickly spun my twinblade to the left in order to slow down the space around me. This would lower the amount of times his star power would hit me. I couldn’t reduce it to zero, but I’d be able to prevent most of damage.

Blood splurted out from my cheek, chest, and thigh. This is nothing compared to what Yukihime felt.

With a powerful shout, I swung down my longsword hard enough to split his blade in two. A piercing clang echoed across the battlefield. Redge had turned his sword sideways to block mine. In the next moment, I shot behind him. His mind couldn’t possibly keep up with this. I slashed out at him from behind – then, Redge instantly disappeared.

He reappeared five steps away from me, then disappeared again. Teleportation. I kept feeling his presence pop up in different spots. When he teleported in succession like this, it was impossible for me to get a grasp on his location.

Suddenly, I felt star power surging out from behind me. Quickly, I swung my twinblade backwards, just in time to catch a powerful slash. Several other slashes followed it, knocking my body straight through a wall.

“You certainly are fast.”

“...What you’re using has nothing to do with speed,” I said as I stood up. He wasn’t moving quickly. He was just disappearing. “It’s insane...”

“And you’ll die without ever understanding it.”

“I don’t need to understand it to beat you,” I spat, then punched through the wall in front of me with my right hand.

We were now standing in a cramped alleyway between some buildings. It was perfect. I kicked off the wall in front of me, then leapt onto the roof of the building I had come out from. I could get behind him here.

Then, as I took another step, the entire roof caved in.

What just happened? I sped up my mind and looked around. Soon, I understood. Redge had slashed through every last building in the area. Every building in front of him, as far as the eye could see, had been perfectly cleaved.

As I felt myself fall, I struggled to keep my body in an upright position and landed safely.

“Those movements are starting to annoy me,” Redge grumbled, then twisted the hilt of his blade.

Suddenly, the unusually long hilt split apart, and its blade broke into two. Redge slid the extra blade into the free half of the hilt. He had just split his huge sword in two.

Redge swung the blade in his left hand. We were 20 meters away from each other, and the blade wasn’t glowing, so it didn’t seem like he was about to fire a slash at me.

Then, he disappeared – or so it seemed, until he appeared on my immediate right and swung down the blade in his right hand. I quickly caught it with my longsword. I’ve never seen him teleport this far. I thought 10 meters was his limit... Does it have something to do that sword swing? Maybe he needs to swing his sword in order to teleport long distances?

Redge pulled back his right blade and swung his left horizontally. I deflected it with my dagger. I only had one sword – my twinblade, but I had confidence in how many attacks I could make with it. He’s not going to get the jump on me just because he has two swords now. Or so I thought.

Redge swung down both swords at the same time, but didn’t slash anything. It appeared to be a useless motion, until he disappeared immediately afterwards.

I felt his star power behind me. I swung my longsword back and turned around just in time to see Redge swing down at me. I managed to block it, but then he disappeared again. Now, Redge could apparently teleport multiple times in a row. It seemed that normally he would need to wait some time before using it again, but splitting his sword into two somehow eliminated that.

...Maybe he needs to swing his sword in order to teleport like this? I’ve seen him teleport without that motion, so it might affect his activation time or distance... The swing must be an enhancement.

A cycle had begun. Redge would disappear, reappear only long enough to slash out at me, then disappear again, leaving me unable to counterattack. Eventually, he reappeared right in front of me. His greatsword could reach me, but my longsword wouldn’t be able to reach him.

I stepped in and swung my longsword horizontally. It cut only air. He was gone.

A split second later, he reappeared at my side – the perfect spot.

“SlashSet – Release.”

Redge was standing right outside of the arc I had just slashed along. But before my slash could hit him, he unleashed a powerful burst of star power from within. Everything around us got slashed to bits, and the slash I released was also caught up in the destruction.

So far, I had managed to do nothing but defend myself. In order to turn this battle around... “...I’m going to have to do something a little crazy.”

I spun my twinblade twice and tripled my speed, just like I had done in the fight with Grom. Redge reappeared near me once again and swung his blade down. Halfway along its arc, I deflected it with my longsword, then quickly slashed upwards with my dagger. My blade lightly sliced Redge’s chest, splattering the ground with his blood.

Instantly, Redge disappeared – but my counterattack had been successful. It had been worth the risk. Even though the slice had been a shallow one, it had still managed to connect. I also figured out that my triple speed was fast enough to keep up with his high-speed teleportation combos. Due to the severe strain, I couldn’t keep it up forever – if I cared about physical stress, that is.

I’m just going to ignore it. Five seconds, ten seconds... I’m going to keep it going for as long as I can. I don’t care if I hack up my guts while doing it – I’m not going to let Redge get the jump on me.

And so, I put my triple speed to the test against his teleportation. As we traded blows, both of us slowly grew more and more wounded.

Suddenly, Redge stopped moving. Blood was dripping out of my mouth, and my entire body was covered in wounds, but he had incurred a fair share of his own.

“I see you’ve managed to keep up with me... In that case, I’ll end this battle with a different move.”

Redge teleported backwards, combined his blades back into one, then raised it up as if he wished to pierce the sky. Silver star power began to gather around the blade, and it was like nothing I had felt thus far. The light stretched up so high, it really looked like it was going to slice through the atmosphere.

If Redge swung that sideways, he would have easily been able to cut down every last building in the area, but this attack felt much stronger than the one he had used earlier.

And this time, he was going to aim it toward me.

This was the silver energy that killed Yukihime. Once he swung it down, I wouldn’t be able to escape no matter how far back I ran. I wouldn’t be able to dodge it to the left or right, either. What can I do? Is it impossible to avoid? Should I just try to destroy the attack itself? What if I threw my twinblade at him? No, that’d be useless, and it probably wouldn’t kill him even if it hit.

As Redge held up his massive, glowing weapon, his silver eyes pierced me. I no longer had any time to hesitate.

I spun my twinblade to the right, and restarted the triple speed boost that had worn off when Redge stopped moving. It felt like my entire body was burning up – but I pushed the pain out of my mind. If I focused on that, I’d get sliced right in two. Regardless of the direction I retreated in, I was dead, which meant I had to run toward him.

This is my chance to end it. In order to get a solid hit in, I had to use the time freeze star sorcery. Even if he nullified it several seconds after I activated it, there would be enough time to hit him, especially if I slowed down time like I did in the previous battle.

Stopping time is the only way...

“You’re ready to do this, right, Towa?”

“I know we can do it as long as we’re together, big brother!”

We’d only get one chance at this – and it would only last for a moment.

It all comes down to this!

With a roar, I ran straight toward Redge. Instantly, I saw disappointment in his eyes. He probably thought I had given up, and was just running blindly ahead. Good. I can’t wait to see the look on your face when I’m done with you.

I aimed my longsword at his glowing silver blade and slashed. Of course, my sword got cut in two. The broken piece went spinning into the air, and in that instant, time froze. The moment my longsword was broken, the spell had activated.

I knew that the spell would wear off in a few seconds, so I needed to attack him as soon as possible. I quickly swung my twinblade back up and slashed him with the dagger end.

It connected. As blood gushed out from Redge’s body, time began to flow once more. The spell had worn off quicker than I expected, and I had only been able to make one attack. But I wasn’t finished yet.

Redge instantly swung down his blade. I quickly swung my dagger up to meet it, and the other side of my twinblade was cleaved.

Time stopped once more – this was my last chance. I swung my right arm back – Progress Boost – and unleashed all the star power that was stored within.

When I used this move before, it had been limited. If I charged up too much star power, the pressure would end up crushing my right arm – but with Towa, that was no longer an issue.

“It’s over!” I screamed, and unleashed my final attack on Redge.

Suddenly, a silver slash shot across. Redge had somehow instantly pulled his sword back down and was now swinging it at my right arm. The time freeze spell had worn off much quicker this time. But why? Did he awaken to a new power right in front of me?

Redge sliced straight through my arm.

“It’s not over yet!” Towa shouted out from her ethereal form.

Instantly, I sped up my body to its limit. I had lost my twinblade, but as long as I had the Ruinmaker’s power on my side, I would be able to keep speeding up time. The next moment felt like a lifetime. I released Towa once more, in the hope that I would be able to immediately regenerate her. My severed arm disappeared into light, and she appeared in its place.

“Urgh!”

The moment Towa phased back in, she hacked up a horrifying amount of blood. Right away, I understood why. She hadn’t lied to me about being able to regenerate, but she had hid one important fact from me. When she took damage in her weapon form, the damage transferred to Towa herself as soon as she reverted back. She knew that if she’d told me that, I would have hesitated. She kept it from me so that I’d be able to act quickly when the time came.

Despite the shock in my eyes, Towa grit her teeth in pain and reached out to me. Then, she let out a shout, blowing away any shock I might’ve felt.

“I want to win, too! I want to give you strength! For Yukihime!”

Yeah... For Yukihime.

I reached back with my left hand and clasped Towa’s right. I had pushed her so far – I couldn’t screw this up.

I let out a shout as well, then chanted the words in order to make my final strike – words powered by all the memories Towa, Yukihime and I had shared together.

“Liberation – Ruinmaker!”

Towa’s body faded into light and reformed into my right arm. I had successfully transformed her into a weapon again, and she looked as good as new.

Now it was time for the real final strike.

“Redge, I’m going to end you.”

I poured all the star power I had left into my fist, swung back, and then–

Go. I’ve given you all of me.

Yukihime’s smile drifted into the back of my mind, along with her words. I could feel her nudging me, pushing me ahead.

Redge was slouched down, his sword on the ground. He was wide open.

And so, my final fist exploded.

Redge’s body fell flat on the ground.

...I won, Yukihime.

Despite the fact that he was lying motionless on the ground, Redge’s eyes still burned with bloodlust. “Why are you standing still? This is your chance to get revenge.”

If we had been in opposite places, he surely would have swung down his sword without any hesitation.

“...I inherited Yukihime’s duty – her duty to protect the world. It has nothing to do with killing you.”

If I hadn’t met Yukihime, if I hadn’t inherited her duty, I surely would have killed him right there on the spot. I still hated him to the extent that I wished I could kill him several times over.

“Don’t ever come back to our world again.”

“What if I say no?”

“...Then I’ll beat you again. And again, and again, and again,” I said, as I stared down at him. “Your world, your empire, is in a crisis, right? Put all that power of yours to some use and figure out a way to handle it on your own.”

Right after, Elemia appeared from a star circle and recovered Redge. I didn’t stop her. If I killed him here, his subordinates would only come to get revenge, and the war would never end.

This is how it has to be...

I had defeated the man who killed Yukihime, at the very place she’d passed away, and saved the world. Suddenly, I realized I couldn’t hear that murderous voice in my head anymore. The desire for revenge that had been eating away at my heart for the past ten years had completely vanished. My fury, hatred, sadness, and pain were all still there, but my appetite for revenge was gone. I had something more important now – the duty I had inherited from the woman I loved.