“That … was not what I had in mind.” Aska looked at all the corpses on the stone floor which didn’t impact my soul as much as he needed to.

“Woah, we did everything you asked us to and you still have the audacity to complain? I’m going to hate myself when you carry on like this.” I complained loudly, crossed my arms in front of my chest and demonstratively stared out of the window.

“I think you are close … you just need a little push …” I didn’t know what he did exactly, but apparently Irminsul thought she was addressed.

“What?” The goddess asked a bit angrily at … I couldn’t even tell. Herself?

“She said she dreamt Lucy’s memories … is it perhaps possible to use that?” His intentions was obviously to stimulate Lucy’s soul to break her chains apart which could have worked to be honest.

“I can’t follow.” Irminsul told him a bit distanced. She probably thought he would need to hurt her soul for that which wasn’t that far off the truth.

“Lucinda, would you be so kind to murder Irminsul with that sword of yours?” Aska was more than interested in that possibility which couldn’t make me any happier.

‘That’s it.’ We had him right where we wanted him to be. The stars finally aligned properly, so much so that I couldn’t help but to smile a little.

“She’s going to be back in thirty seconds anyways … so why should I?” I asked with as smirk on my face.

‘Huh? That wasn’t part of the agreement?’ Lucy was fucking angry rightfully so. We had promised that we wouldn’t take actions benefitting one of us solely after all. But sadly I had no time to explain her what I intended to do as Aska was already continuing.

“Are you scared?” Aska asked while I looked at a squinting Irminsul quietly.

“… possibly.” I mumbled. If things went south, I would at least die with the knowledge that Luna was safe this way.

‘Lucinda? What are you doing?’ I was protecting what was dear to me. I was selfish, okay?

“What happened to proving me that Lucy will never wake up?” Aska asked, probably sure of his victory at this point.

“You know I’m not that dumb to let this golden opportunity slip by. I’ll do it as long as you can promise you will give Luna to Irminsul.” I wouldn’t budge on that, no matter what. Luna’s protection was more important than mine, or Lucy’s for that matter.

‘And if he says no? Lucinda?!’ Then we would have a problem.

“And why should I keep that promise?” Aska asked which made me laugh a little. We both knew that our word wasn’t valued much by those who knew us better, but more by those who didn’t have the pleasure yet. To conclude, his reputation was on the line there.

“There are cameras all around us! And even if you manage to censor it, there is still a trusted goddess. Who would the other gods believe more, you or her? And if you break your promise, why would everyone ever trust your word in the future?” There were several problems with this approach. For once, I didn’t know if he was even trustworthy from the viewpoint of the other gods and second of all, he could break his word if Luna was more important to him than his trustworthiness.

“… fine. Luna will be hers.” He had all the cards in the hand and as such he obviously chose to agree. But even if he did so only on the surface, it didn’t matter.

“So … my dear friend …” I drew my sword once more and strolled over towards Irminsul who was still hesitating.

“I doubt this will change anything …” She mumbled and extended her hands to the side. Self sacrifice apparently ran rather deep in that family. “but if that’s going to bring her back.” She was a weird fellow till the very end. For once, she wanted to have one of her many daughters back, but on the other hand, I could see that she didn’t want to lose me as a friend as well. But … she already made her decision, so I wasn’t that remorseful as I stepped closer to her and pushed my sword into her body slowly.

Instantly, I could feel the sword beginning to do its work by dissolving the consciousness of the goddess of life slowly and with it, removing her soul from this planet gradually.

As I stood right in front of her, I hugged her with my free arm and laid my chin on her shoulder.

“You still owe me a favour, my friend. Fight for me after your death, okay?” I whispered quietly and stepped away from her, my right hand shaking horribly. My sword was still inside her body as I screamed loudly and gripped my heart in apparent pain.

“From the moment I saw your green eyes, I knew what was going on … good luck you two.” Irminsul leaned a bit forwards to whisper into my ear. What she said seriously surprised me as it wasn’t exactly what I had anticipated. Her words alone made her previous betrayal look like it was all calculated … which it probably was. Right away, it did turn my anger for her into thankfulness because through her actions alone, Aska felt more secure in his victory than ever before.

A victory paid with Irminsul’s temporary death.

And I would give him that victory.

I bit on my tongue to spew out a bit of blood and then, I left the steering wheel of my body.

‘Now it’s your turn. Don’t fuck it up.’

Immediately, Lucy took control and opened her eyes wide. Her right hand started trembling immediately and she pulled the sword out as quickly as possible. Stunned, she just stood in front of her collapsing mother with her green eyes reflecting in the windows.

“What … where am I?” I tried to hole myself up as much as possible to avoid any leakage of death he might sense, but maybe that wasn’t even necessary. He was too excited to be cautious after all.

“It … it worked!” Aska stood up from his throne and raced towards us quickly. While Lucy was trembling all over, he just hugged her which did panic her a lot.

‘Calm down. Twenty seconds.’ I told her. We needed to get this over with fast, otherwise Irminsul might not understand what I told her.

“D-ad? I … no, leave me alone!” Lucy shrank back from him in terror, nearly frozen in fear.

‘What are you waiting for? Kill him already! He isn’t even bothering with defence!’ I shouted into my head, counting in horror how much time passed.

‘I … I can’t!’ My sword was in her hand, not activated by the touch of her soul, but I could change that at moments notice. She didn’t lack the physical capabilities to do so … she wasn’t ready mentally, even though she had gained all those memories from me.

‘Nobody is going to save us! Do it now or all the sacrifices had been for nothing!’

That finally motivated her. With nine seconds left to spare, she pointed her sword at Aska’s side while he kept hugging her overbearingly. He didn’t even notice her movement, just like we anticipated.

There has always been the question of how we might beat Aska and I had yet to find a satisfying answer. I could only come up with a single idea: To use what he wanted against him.

And that was exactly what we were doing. He wanted Lucy, but he never expected her to be capable of murder. As such, his guard was completely down as he was stabbed into his sides, way lower than optimal.

Even though my sword did its work, it wasn’t enough to banish him from this world yet. As fast as I could, I took back control of my body and bit into his shoulder.

Now, he was finally realising what was going on properly. He attempted to reach for my sword arm while I dragged the sword further upwards, damaging his body and mind further and further.

“Just give up already.” I growled through my teeth while tasting his black blood in my mouth.

“How did you do th-“ His words were promptly interrupted as a thorny vein appeared from behind, strangling him somewhat and restraining his arms.

‘Nice.’ Finally, I could pierce his heart and ripped his body further open until my sword exited his shoulder. And yet, he surprisingly had some strength left in him. He grabbed the thorny veins around his neck while I took a step back and brandished my sword once more, just to stop at the last second. I couldn’t move.

‘What are you doing?’ I thought loudly and very angrily. After all, the last time I couldn’t move was when Lucy stepped in.

‘It’s not me!’ But if it wasn’t her doing … then it could only be Aska’s. And sadly, I had a hunch what was going on here. My soul constantly emitted some death into my body and by taking control of it – just like I could control his death to a lesser degree – he could make me do whatever he wanted. It was his ultimate trump card, but if that was everything, it wouldn’t save his life.

“That hurts …” He mumbled while I ceded back control to Lucy. Life blossomed out of her soul, sweeping away my death in an instant and freeing us from the lock Aska put on us. Right away, she pulled the sword a little backwards while Aska’s wounds were still healing.

‘… do it.’

And then, she swung it and this time, I followed along with the sword. In the beginning, I wanted to murder him myself, but that sadly turned out to be impossible. At this point, I just wanted him to be gone.

The edge of the blade hit his skin, cut through it without loosing any momentum whatsoever, lost a bit of speed at his skeleton, but soon overcame that hurdle as well.

Blood spewed out of his wound, his head flew off him and finally, the death inside this room reversed considerably. He was gone.

We had won.

For thirty seconds at minimum.