Young Magic Knight: Chapter 21 (Cleo)

After resting for a moment, I open my eyes. Emerald is sitting next to me, behind a building far away from the fight. Neither Trace nor Savior have come back, yet. I'm beginning to worry.

“You like her...” Emerald, who had remained silent up to this point, says this.

“Wha?” I'm so thrown off by this that I didn't know what to say. What made her suddenly say this?

“You really care about Trace a lot, don't you?”

“Of course. She's my friend.” She just nods, as if she didn't understand before. “Why? Is there a reason you've decided to start talking about her?”

“Not really...” Rather than let the conversation end, I urge her to keep talking.

“...it's about Summer of 2014, isn't it?”

She seems shocked that I even brought it up, but she seems more shocked that I know what she wants to talk about. “How can you forgive her...?” I can hear anger in Emerald's voice. I think carefully about how to answer her question...

“Trace is my friend, so I gave her a chance. Isn't that enough? Emerald, listen. Trace hasn't killed a single person since then... I won't ask you to forgive her... you lost your friend, after all. Still... I want you to understand that Trace won't ever kill someone again. Are you listening?”

“I just need time to think about it.” Saying this, she stands up.

“Where are you going?”

Looking at me as if it's obvious, Emerald says: “The explosions and stuff stopped a long time ago. Don't you wanna see if they're alright?” I hadn't payed it too much attention, actually. So we walk toward the scene of the fight, but to both of our surprise, we meet Trace and Primo halfway there.

“Cleo?” I just stare at Trace for a moment. She doesn't have a scratch on her... How did she fight Savior without getting hurt? “You're wondering how we won,” Trace says, smiling. “It's thanks to these!” She points to the swords on Primo's back. The Thirteen Blades... I guess that even Savior's Blade isn't powerful enough to stand up to all of them.

Before I get distracted, I remember that there's a question that's been bugging me. “Trace, did you...”

“Savior's alive. She spared him.” Primo interrupts me and says this.

“Yeah, I dealt a final blow, but it didn't kill 'im. In the state he's in, he can't hurt anyone, anyway. Besides, I felt kinda sorry for him,” Trace says, hiding her sadness behind a smile. “He didn't understand that what he was going to do was wrong. He's not like the Savior the religious folks believe in. Just an imitation gone wrong... makes me a little sad.” She looks up to the sky.

“So yeah, I called Miss Strife, and she'll come and collect him later. Don't worry about it.” Primo gives us a thumbs up. He's smiling. We all are... We did it. Everything's alright—wait, no, it's not!

“Blue!” Everyone looks at me when I suddenly say this. “Everyone! We gotta go help Blue and Baek!” After that, everyone understands and we run back to the CORE Building.

...

We go to the 6^th floor, where Primo says they should be. Beyond the large door, a fight is in progress against who I assume is Queen. Blue... is standing on Baek's shoulders. What's going on? “Blue!?” I shout, starting to walk to him.

“Stop!” He stretches his arm out, pointing at the ground. As I look where he's pointing, I notice there's a Magic Circle on the ground. “That circle drains the mana of whoever steps into it!” I almost walked right into it... I see Queen in the center of the room.

“Flèche, do you think we can shoot her?”

“I don't know. I'm already low on mana and I'm not sure if the arrow will be able to reach her.”

I hadn't thought about that. Even if I don't have to take the Magic Circle into account... “We need to try.” Flèche materializes the bow, and I fire. The arrow flies...!

...and doesn't reach her. She looks in my direction. “Ha!”

While she's looking over here, Blue says something to Baek that I didn't hear. “What?”

“I said 'throw me', Baek!” With that, Blue drops from his shoulders and Baek throws him, sending him flying toward the Queen. Although she's no longer distracted, she is nearly hit by Blue's fist, which she rolls away from. But then... Ah, I see. That's what Blue wanted. With his fist, he smashes the floor, breaking the circle.

The three of them go falling down to the 5^th floor. Without thinking, I follow them. “Cleo!” By the time Trace shouts, it's too late. I've already jumped down there.

“Give up, Queen.” Once he finishes falling, Blue says this. “You're outnumbered, and you've exhausted the mana of your Magic Knight Force.”

The woman, Queen, just laughs. “You've missed a vital detail, boy! You're still feeling the effects of the Magic Circle, are you not? What did you think was happening to your mana as I stood in the middle of it?”

When she says this, Baek says, “Oh...”, and looks to Blue for some kind of plan.

“I see. Your Circle drains the mana of whoever stands in it and sends it to the caster, who stands in the center of it where the stolen mana is goes. I'm not sure how I didn't see that earlier.” Blue seems to smile at what Queen had done, despite the situation he's in. “In other words, you're almost at full power, while we're both tired. It should be an easy curb-stomp in your favor, right?” She seems surprised and confused at this question. “It's a good thing that I decided to stand on Baek's shoulders. That way, the Circle couldn't reach me...” Blue smirks.

“So you still have most of your mana left. Interesting tactics, boy... but it won't save you. You don't stand a chance against the second strongest in all of Shadowhand. Even if you do beat me, King is waiting for you and he'll wipe you all out, drained of power or otherwise. Either way, prepare to die...”

Queen forms a Mystic Coat around herself, and takes a fighting stance. Blue does the same, but he seems to do so using less mana than Queen. The first thing Queen does is throw a fireball, which Blue, as I expected, just stands and takes.

He emerges undamaged. “Your element is fire, I see.” Now, Blue runs forward. If Queen is only good at fire magic, then Blue can win this easily, but... as Blue runs forward, I notice that Queen is just standing there, as if she expected Blue to run at her... “Blue! Be careful!”

By the time I say this, it's too late. Blue is right in front of her, then... “Glacies.” A spear of ice appears right in front of her... and Blue is stabbed by it.

“Dammit...” He's bleeding from the wound on his stomach. If he hadn't had the Mystic Coat on, it would have gone all the way through. This is bad... I don't think Flèche can heal him with the mana she has left.

“Dumbass kid! What would make you think that a person can only be good at one element? My Magic Knight Force allows me to use almost all elemental spells...” An evil grin. “You can see now that there's no way you can win. I can counter anything you throw at me with a spell of my own! I don't even have to let you touch me! Struggle and die like the dog you are! Ah ha ha ha ha!”

Lux. The beam goes out, and Blue blocks it with his left hand, taking a little damage. “Azure Fist!” The blue flame shoots forward...

“Ventus.” ...but it's blown away like nothing by the strong wind. “Terra.” Queen smashes the ground with her fist, turning some of it into dangerous objects to hurl at Blue. He dodges, moving around as fast as he can, which I'm surprised he's doing with that stab wound he's got. The assault stops... Then the floor Blue stands on crumbles right under him.

He falls down yet another floor, and Queen chases him immediately. I run after her. Right now, Blue is powerless... I need to do something to help him! When I get down there, it's even worse. Blue's at the mercy of a multi-elemental storm, with little he can do to defend against it. I need to try something. Conversion...

Flèche is low on mana, but I can still use my own. If I convert my life force into mana, I can cast a spell. Conversion takes time, but with Queen focusing on Blue, I should have plenty of it.

...alright, that's good. Shoot forward, wind! “Ventus!” The razor sharp wind blows in Queen's direction, cutting her. While only sustaining minor injuries, she's still disoriented enough for Blue to act. Seeing this opportunity, he sends an Azure Fist flying into Queen's face.

She goes flying back, but quickly recovers and fires off more spells. I run in front of her target, Blue. Convert... “Scutum!” A magic shield appears in front of us, taking all the damage. Queen keeps firing, eventually breaking it. The impact of the last spell she fires sends me flying backwards. However, when she begins to cast a spell to hit us both...

“What...?”

“Burned yourself out, I assume.” Blue gets up and starts walking toward her, saying this. “I was waiting for you to run out of mana, firing those spells all over the place.” All of the sudden, Queen seems terrified. Blue stands right in front of her. “I feel like I should have something badass to say, here, but I don't...” Then Blue throws one last punch. WHAM! “All I have to do is this.”

Queen seems to be trying to get up, which doesn't surprise me. “Is this really happening? Did I...”

“You've lost.” When Blue says this, Queen looks as if she'd been hit by a truck.

“NO.” It seems as if she really cannot believe it... “No...! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!” I can see Queen falling apart... It's hard to watch, and kind of sad. “Why did I lose!? I can't lose! I had to win!!!” Tears start rushing from her eyes. “If I don't beat you... If I lose, nothing will change! I HAD TO WIN! WHY DID I LOSE!?” She throws herself on the ground to starts crying like a child. Looking over at Blue, he seems just as uncomfortable watching her freak out as I am.

“Come on, guys. Let's leave her...” Baek says this and starts to walk away.

Just as we begin to turn away, however, Queen sits up, silently. No screaming, no crying, nothing. She then says this:

“Kill me.”

We're all shocked. How are we supposed to react to something like that? Blue is the first one to say something. “Why would you want us to do such a thing?”

“It's... everything is worthless,” the Queen says. “Do you know who I am? My name is Sharice Freeman...”

“What the...!?” Trace reacts, suddenly.

“That's right. Charles Freeman, the man who wrote Kingdom of Fear, was my family...”

I gasp. The others seem very surprised as well. Indeed, this is very unexpected.

“My father told me about how Uncle Charles got killed because the people were afraid of what he believed. When CORE rose, I joined up, but only to work with the scientists in getting the Dive Network to work. I didn't want to hurt anyone... but this rotten land kept on pushing me and pushing me... until I turned into this...

“Why... why do I have to suffer with this injustice!? No one will help me because of my history. No one will respect me because I was one of the 'bad guys'. I, along with everyone else who lived through it, are treated like lower class citizens. Why didn't they just keep us in prison!?” No one knows what to say. Even Blue is at a loss for words, it seems.

“All I had left to look forward to was a chance at revenge, but I won't get it. I have nothing to live for, now... so kill me.”

After listening to all this, Blue says one word... “No.” Queen seems surprised. Blue goes on. “If I killed you, nothing really would change. Former CORE members would continue to be mistreated, and no one would have even noticed.” He kneels down, so his face is level with her's. “You wanted things to change, and there's nothing wrong with that. I can't kill you for fighting against what you think is unfair. I... we want you to live so we can see you change this. Work for the change you want... just don't do this... and don't throw your life away.”

Queen looks at Blue's face, which turns into a reassuring smile. “I know you can do it. Now, we're off to stop King from ruining everything, including your second chance.” He stands up, or rather, he tries to... the wounds are finally getting to him.

“Blue!” I pick him up off of the floor.

“Tch. It's no good. I can't go on like this.”

“It's okay, Blue. Stay there,” Trace says, with Emerald and Primo already heading back up to the 6^th floor. “We'll take care of it from here.” She smiles and starts to walk away.

“Wait!” I shout, before she leaves.

“What? We can't take Baek with us, so...”

“But, what about me?”

Trace seems to avert meeting my gaze. “You two look so cute together...” She says, smiling nervously.

I blush.

“Pfff... ha ha ha! Seriously, though, take care of him. When Blue can walk, come meet us. We should be done by then.”

I nod. “Good luck.”

They run off to the final battle. After this, everything will be alright. We can go on with our lives, knowing things have changed for the better... 

...right?

Young Magic Knight: Chapter 20 (Trace)

I stand in the crater created by the last spell he had cast... I've been hit so hard and so many times I can barely even stand. All my weapons are broken, I'm out of ammo, and I've used as much as I could of Grey's mana. Emerald is dying, and I have no clue what state Cleo is in, right now... Dammit! If Primo doesn't get here soon, we're all doomed...

“Trace! Cleo! Emerald!” That voice... It must be Primo. I can hear him breathing heavily. He's probably out of breath from speeding over here. I turned in the direction of the voice to face him. “Trace!” He slides down, into the crater, and comes towards me. “You're alive...!”

“Primo... you made it.” I try to smile. I was sort of doubting if I'd live long enough for him to save us.

“Take them and run,” he says, looking up at Savior, hovering up above. “I'll face him.”

“But--”

“Go!” He draws two of the Thirteen Swords. “If it's like this, I can win. Please...”

Not willing to argue, I just nod. I gather what strength I had left, and go looking for Emerald and Cleo. Emerald's just outside the crater, still in pretty bad shape. If she doesn't get medical attention immediately...

“Trace!” It's Cleo who calls out to me, injured, but still able to move properly.

“We should get out of the way.”

“Are you sure, Trace?”

Looking back at Primo, I say, “We need to trust him. If we stay here, we will die.” I try to keep calm while saying this, but the truth is that I am afraid of dying. I hadn't felt this scared since...

“Come on! We need to treat her!” I shout, trying to snap out of it. Come on, Trace. You've been in danger before... get it together...!

“Okay, let's go.” We run. We get as far away from the fight as we can. After getting about 200 yards away, I can't run anymore. “Trace, I'll heal you both, now.” After a few minutes, I am fully healed.

I think for a second about Primo and Savior. How is the fight going, I wonder...

I look back at where we ran from. Lots of destruction and explosions. Was Primo winning? Or... “Cleo, heal Emerald, for now.” I start to run. I run back there...

“Trace, wait!”

“I can't!”

Cleo stands up and grabs my arm. “Trace, don't go! You'll just get...”

I pull away from her. “Don't panic! Listen... I, uh, I've got a plan!” I lie. It's more like a feeling, but it's something I can't deny. “I got this. It'll all go just as planned. But you gotta stay here with her, okay? I'll make it back... and Primo will be with me.” I smile and run off. I just hope this feeling I have is right...

I arrive back at the scene of the fight. Primo and Salvator are still goin' at it... I decide to observe them for a second. For the longest time, I had wondered why Primo had brought all thirteen swords with him, but now it makes sense. First, carrying all of them seems to have given him a power up. He couldn't touch Salvator before, now he's on equal footing with him. Second, Primo seems to be using all thirteen swords at the same time...

I go in closer to get a better look. That is, in fact, what Primo is doing! I see him swing the “I” Sword, now “II”... he grabs the “III” Sword out of midair, then slashes. As Salvator backs up, Primo throws “IV” and “V”, then comes charging at him with the “VI” Sword.

Salvator manages to block that, but then Primo slashes with “VII”, catching him off guard and getting a hit in. He throws “VIII” and “IX” into the sky, throws “X” straight at his target, and dashes forward with “XI” and “XII”. A flurry of blades before “X” reaches Salvator. Primo dodges the blades coming at him, allowing Salvator to be hit by all three of them. He now pulls out his last blade, “XIII”, and brings it down with an overhead swing. If Salvator wasn't as god-like in power as I think he is, he'd be dead.

Freaking hell... This is impossible! The speed of his hands, the concentration necessary to pull all of these moves successfully... I can't believe my eyes! I know he's not human, but how can he do all this? It must have taken an extreme amount of training and discipline to pull it off... Impossible... but somehow, it seems familiar to me...

“You remind me of an old friend... Her name was Láng Shísān, the Bloody Prince...” Why am I remembering this right now? “This is just one more unbelievable thing. Come on, I won't lie to you.” Bloody Prince. Master swordswoman. Thirteen Blades. Xuè “Láng” Shísān. These are not my memories...

“Don't worry, I'll tell you when the time is right. Until then... don't die, okay?”

So confusing... it's like information is spilling into me out of nowhere...!

“Until I can keep our promise, I won't die, but don't you go dying either, got it?”

What? Where is all this coming from? Why am I able to hear these things?

“Don't worry, Grey. I won't die.”

Is it possible that Grey is sending memories to me? I don't know... Grey should be resting, shouldn't he?

“...and Grey... Thank you.”

...it stops. The flood of information stops. Still, I feel that there's something I can use in there...

While I'm sitting here, thinking about all of this, I notice that Primo has gone flying away from where Savior was standing. He probably got unlucky and took a hit. It seems like Primo's getting tired. Savior's hurt, but he'll outlast Primo easily if this keeps up. Again, Primo grabs the swords and uses them, getting a few more lucky hits in. He is doing a decent job of surviving, but he's slowing down and the amount of power behind his blows is getting weaker...

Finally, he falls to his knees and drops the swords. I immediately start running over there. Savior stands in front of him, and raises his sword.

It's as if time has stopped. What should I do? I can't hit Savior. My attacks aren't strong enough. If I stand in-between him and Primo, I'll just get sliced open, wasting my life. Grey doesn't have enough mana to generate a Mystic Coat for me, and even if he did, there's no point in taking the hit, because I'll still at least get badly hurt, or probably just die, anyway... What should I do!?

Ah, yes. The swords. I'll use them. Seeing one of them nearby, I grab it and continue to run forward. Just as Savior swings down, I slide, getting between the blade and Primo. Replacing the sound of splattering blood and flesh, and the image of both our mangled bodies on the ground, is the sound of clashing swords, and me standing there, having successfully blocked Savior's strike.

“Trace...?” Primo whispers this, probably upset that I didn't run like he said I should.

Yeah... the sword feels familiar. After struggling for a while, I manage to push Savior back. As he stands there, I go and grab one of the other swords scattered about. This is the “I” Sword. While I do this, Savior rushes over and attacks me, but I turn around and parry it with less trouble than I expected. The blades are making me stronger and faster... if I wasn't holding them, that strike would have torn me in half before I'd even noticed him. Seeing how much Primo has weakened him, I know that I can stop the Savior, now.

Earlier, I couldn't keep up with Savior's movements. In fact, it seemed as if he could stand perfectly still one moment, then be somewhere else, like directly behind me, the next. Now, it's as if he's moving in slow motion. Seeing that he's much slower, and I've gotten faster, I swing the “I” Sword at him, hitting Savior in the ribs. He doesn't fall, however, and he starts the motion of a diagonal slash. Before he can finish it, I stab him with “II”. Savior still doesn't stop, and I move just before he finishes the swinging motion. If I moved any later, I would have lost my eye. 

Thinking quickly, I throw both swords at him, which he manages to block, then I run toward the “III” sword. He fires something at me, probably some kind of magic, which I barely manage to dodge. I keep running, grab “III”, and swing it. An arc of light, one shaped like the swing I just did, goes flying in Savior's direction, cutting him in the chest. Somehow, I knew this would happen.

“Hey, Savior.” The wounded angel looks at me, surprised that I even wanted to speak. “Let's not do this.” As I speak, I walk around, looking for “IV”, while at the same time, making sure I keep an eye on Savior. During all this, I wonder where Primo is... He seems to have disappeared.

“Why did you choose to fight me in the first place, Trace Prince?”

"It's obvious, isn't it? I just don't want anymore people to die."

"I know that," he says, growing irritated. "What's the real reason?"

I take a deep breath, and answer: “Because you are propping up a rotting kingdom.”

“That's not true!”

“THE HELL IT ISN'T!” I can't take this garbage anymore. “The reason Shadowhand exists, the reason CORE rose again in the first place was because people predicted things like you! In your effort to protect the weak and innocent, you have become a source of fear and hatred for a different group of people!” How silly. I'm starting to sound like a Corist, myself... “Are you okay with that!? ARE YOU!?”

“I am meant to protect this city! I will do what I must for it!”

After shouting that, Savior charges at me again. “You, and Shadowhand's very existence, are dangerous!” He swings his blade, and I dodge it. “How am I supposed to quiet the fears of the people with criminals running loose?! People like you are what they were afraid of to begin with!” Another beam. I am able to block it.

“It's a cycle, Savior! If you just try to force your will by killing people that you think are bad, that won't stop other people from doing bad things, and it won't save good people from being hurt! All it does is breed the hatred that's right in front of you!” As I say this, I run and grab “I” and “II” from where they had landed.

“What you're saying makes no sense... If I kill all the bad people, only good people will be left! Isn't it obvious!?” Savior swings at me again, and I block it.

“If you really did 'kill all the bad people', almost everyone would be dead.” We both stand there, silent. He looks like he honestly doesn't understand what I'm saying...

“SHUT UP!!!” Suddenly, I'm blown away.

“If that's what needs to happen, so be it! In order to create a peaceful world, I will kill all of you humans if I must!” Looking at Savior, now, I can see that his sanity is slipping... “I don't care if they hate me for it! Who are they to judge!? They, who even God cannot bring Himself to love!” With that, he flies into the sky and begins to glow. I don't know what he's doing, but I'd rather not stand around and find out...

“Trace!” Just as I decide to run towards Savior, Primo throws the other swords to me. Concentrating as much as I can, I grab one out of the air, and fling it at the Savior. I repeat this eleven times, sending them flying into Savior's body.

I hold “XIII” tightly in my hands, then jump towards the light. “Listen, Savior. I don't know much about La Salvato, but I know they believe that the human race is only alive because Salvator convinced God not to destroy us, and that we were worthy of living. They believe it was Salvator who gave us another chance, and it's because of him that God pities us.” As I get closer, I see the surprised look on his face. “You are no Savior... you are just an imitation gone wrong.”

...and I stab.

Young Magic Knight: Chapter 19 (Azul)

“Hey, so, uh... Blue?”

Baek decides to talk to me as we run though the building. It's understandable that he has some questions, especially considering all that stuff that went down right in front of him. He's kinda been outta the loop, now that I think about it... Me, Cleo, Trace, and Emerald are all connected to each other in one way, or another. Primo probably knew all this for a long time, now.

As far as I know, Baek doesn't really have that connection we do, and he didn't learn the truth about them when Primo did. I'll try to answer any questions he has. Before I can answer him, however, I notice that more guards have come for us. There sure is a large number of them... As soon as we're in range, they fire, raining a hail of bullets on us, which I dodge and Baek blocks.

“What is it you wanted to talk about, Baek?” I say, dodging the bullets in midair whist preparing a fireball to counterattack with. Shadowhand is smart enough to have given them armor that could endure our attacks. They were definitely prepared for us to show up. This is fine for me, though. If it's like this, the fireball shouldn't kill them.

“What's this about Trace and Cleo being killers?” he says, charging at the guards. I throw the fireball, taking a few of them out. A large sweeping kick from Baek knocks down even more.

“Baek, remember those murders from the summer of 2014?” I say as I run toward the guards and punch one of them.

“Vaguely,” he says, hitting a guard with his elbow. “What, you're not gonna tell me one of them is the killer, are you?”

I think about how to answer his question. As I do this, I snap my fingers, creating an explosion that blows a good deal of guards away. “You see...” I say, heading toward the elevator. “There were two killers.”

“Two killers?” he says, bowling over a few guards that stood in his way.

“Yeah,” I say as I watch more guards come out of the now open elevator. “To make a long story short...” I jump in the air, and extend my leg, kicking the guard in front of me. “...one killer was Cleo...” Uppercut. “...and the other was Trace.” Backhand for the guard behind me.

“Are you shittin' me!?”

“Duck.” As soon as he does, I send an Azure Fist at the guards behind him.

“So that's what Savior was talking about!” he says, offhandedly blasting a guard with what I can only describe as a Shadow Ball.

“Yeah, and that's another reason I feel that we need to stop him. Not only will he kill the King and Queen of Shadowhand, he'll probably kill Trace and Cleo, too.” I step inside the elevator. “Hm... how much do you know about the novel Kingdom of Fear?” I say, throwing the last guard out and pressing the “Close” button.

“Not much,” Baek says, waiting patiently.

“Well, a popular interpretation of the book is that it's about how weak and afraid of everything the people of this continent have become. Savior reminds me of the tragic villain who decided to try and defend the kingdom to the end, even as it rotted around him...”

“What a shame... I hope things don't turn out that way.”

“Me, too.”

My phone rings... it's Primo. “Go to the 6^th floor.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I checked the 7^th floor. There's nothing here but a trap. They expected us to come to the top floor... I'll meet you in front of the elevator, okay?” He hangs up.

“We're supposed to go to floor 6,” I say, pressing the button.

“Anyway, Baek... Cleo's a vampire, and she had to kill people and drink their blood. Trace just hated a girl so much that she wanted to kill her. Those events have a good deal to do with why they decided to be superheroes. The guilt...” We talk some more as the elevator went up.

“I see. Well, what's Emerald's deal?”

“The girl Trace killed was her best friend, and from what I remember Trace telling me, she died pretty pointlessly, too. Emerald told me that she thinks Trace is nothing more than a killer, and that she's only acting like a hero so that she can hurt people and get away with it. She told me that once this was over, she would bring Trace justice...”

“...seems like I missed a lot.”

“Yeah, you did,” I say, looking at the monitor, which shows that we had just passed the 5^th floor.

“How did I not learn all this earlier?” Baek scratches his head.

“You should have hung out with us more, man.” I smile at him.

“Heh heh, hopefully it's not too late.”

I nod. "Yeah. Let's do something fun after this crap is all over."

"I'll consider it... if we live."

Ding.

The elevator opens. We've reached the 6^th floor.

“And we will. Don't jinx us, Baek. It'll be fine.” We step out. Of course, there are guards waiting for us... or there would be, had Primo not taken them out.

As we run over to him, I notice that he had all thirteen swords with him. They must be making him extremely powerful. Now there's no way I'm worried about dying. We'll live for sure. Primo touches the large door in front of him and speaks. “I sense a large amount of mana behind this door. It must be them! Are you guys ready?” Suddenly, another phone rings. Primo's phone... “Hello? Trace? …Huh!?” He seems worried. What did Trace say to him? “But... okay. I'll be there as soon as possible. Don't die on me...”

He hangs up. We stare at Primo for some time. “I underestimated Salvator. They'll die if I don't do something, quickly...”

“Go.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “You have to go. We can handle this.” I smile at him, trying to hide how worried I really am.

“Okay, Blue. You be careful, too, okay?” With that, he runs off. Be careful, Primo...

“You care about them a lot...” I look at Baek as he says this. “Trace and Cleo, I mean.”

“Well, yeah. The thing is... I'm not too sure how we got to be such good friends. A lot happened, but...”

He smiles. “They reached their hand out, and you took it.”

“Hm?”

“That's a good enough reason, don't you think?”

I think about it, then I nod just as he does. Yeah, that's a good enough reason for me. “Well, are you ready, Baek? Let's go fight for our friends.”

“Yeah.” He smiles and extends his fist toward me. “There's no gettin' off this train we're on.” I look at the fist, and bump it with my own.

“Come on, let's go.” We open the door to the final battle...