Zurgaa 8th. The desert storm engulfed the city in broad daylight. The sky darkened, and the buildings shuddered. The Tengerleg Stadium was nothing but ruins. The glass ceiling had shattered, the seats piled up a mess, bare concrete and rebar exposed like raw flesh and bone. There was hardly a crowd. Yet in the depths of the arena, two people walked from their respective entrances. The ground left a crater in the center, where Suruj’s attack once reached the sky. The KWKK Chief Director, Qiemi stood atop the podium, watching as they entered the worn battleground. It was time.

Saya de-facto won the Major, and now she was to face off against the champion, Ayai Toya in the Terminus. The champion was once the person she’d admired from her home in Al-Shinkyou, but now she thought of her differently.

Saya tied her silver hair back. She didn’t change her clothes for almost the entirety of her stay in the city, the same shemagh and clothes. But she saw that Toya had the exact clothes as she saw on the holograms. A long azul coat, with a red collar. Her looks were unlike any other Khoitan Saya had seen.

“Have you finally experienced what it’s like to lose your people?” Toya asked, scoffing at her. Saya didn’t move.

“You make it sound like the very thing has happened to you.”

“Tch.”

“We’re both on the same ground. So I want to ask you…”

“You ask for another request after I saved that Buhang?” She kept her thumb on the guard of her sword, a peculiar crescent shaped one. Saya slowly extended her hand out to her.

“Let’s end this tournament, end this suffering together,” She said solemnly, while the wind screamed loudly. “If you’ve been through the same thing I’ve just experienced, you must’ve experienced it seven times. I’ve always watched you in the holograms, so I know. You’ve been the champion of the Dineh Kazaàd since 1971. It’s 1978 now.”

“I refuse,” Toya turned her head away, looking downward. “No matter how many times you watch me in a hologram, it doesn’t mean you know who I am.”

“So come at me,” Saya put space between her legs, her hand touching the scimitar’s hilt. “I’ll make an offer. If even a fraction of me lives after the city goes dark, then you and I will overthrow all of this.”

“You know very well that’s impossible.”

“Then tell me the reason why.”

Deadly silence. The broken spotlights casted overhead. The sand crunched under Saya’s feet. She gently took off the black bracelet, and put it in her back pocket. Everything needed to end now. Even if it took her limb by limb.

“Just to let you know, I’ll be going for the kill,” Toya’s thumb unlocked her sword, “Mayin Skrastreg: Lunar Fall, A Thousand Tides.”

An upward slash came in an arch. Sparkles of light flashed. Whatever was in front of her was obliterated. Dust kicked up in the air. The shamisen began to strike.

Saya dashed through the cloud of sand. She wore Mashuu’s bandana over her mouth. Toya moved in. A returning slash came so immense she pushed Saya back across the uneven terrain. An onslaught came. The taiko drum thundered to Saya’s steps in the ground. Toya tracked her movements.

“Slow.”

Toya’s strikes became faster and faster. Saya didn’t hold blocks any longer than seconds. The shamisen’s sound began to distort. She barely felt the rhythm in her arms and legs. Her sword glowed white. What was this fear? Her lungs struggled for breath. Saya infused her scimitar with sahar. Yet the nicks were more visible. She stepped back, blood dripping down her shoulder. The air stung her.

“Kwazhak told me a thing about you, Ms. Toya,” Saya huffed, “Your tribe…”

“My tribe? They’re all lucky that they left this world before I did,” Toya exclaimed, walking towards her with the sword on the side. “In this stadium four decades ago my ancestors fought and died here. The Laoyuangs are the reason why.”

“Was Kwazhak really like that?”

Toya shook her head, “... I don’t know.”

“Then how do you know?!”

“My parents told me. My parent’s parents told them. The Laoyuangs were the ones that did this.”

“But today is different from forty years ago… How can you judge the Laoyuangs if you’ve only met one?”

Toya met Saya with her moon blade. The metal screech tore their ears. Saya broke free of the gridlock. She whirled around pieces of her sword that chipped off. She began to understand. Toya’s style. Brutal elegance.

“Because of them, I had to kill everyone,” Toya swung her blade, “In order to survive, I need to kill you.”

“That KWKK scum…” Saya narrowly parried it. Toya’s blade continued and hacked her hand off. Saya screamed. Her mind was panicking. The air attacked her nerves. Her chopped hand trailed through the air with blood. Saya aimed her right hand onto the stub.

“Alam Kaifuk!” The blood arc retracted from gravity. Her left hand levitated back into her wrist. Her chest ached at the usage of the spell. Her wounds from that round in the Minor were still healing. She gripped her scimitar with bloody hands. Toya and Saya moved across the arena. She couldn’t die. If she died here, then everything everyone had been fighting for would be for nothing. Her veins popped. She yelled. Toya knocked Saya back. Saya arched over and slammed the blade into the ground in a faint.

“Mayin Kopae,” Toya unleashed a horizontal slash. A large energy wave extended outward. Saya ducked under it to see Toya bring her sword down on her. Saya disappeared in a flash of particles.

“Alam Botok: Sand River!”

Saya zoomed around Toya. Toya stood still, keeping her sword on guard. The dust and sand stirred up around her. Round and round, the strings plucked again and again.

“I dislike flamboyant tricks,” Toya somehow locked eyes with her. A mysterious light beamed onto Saya. Toya reflected a gleam from the spotlight with her sword onto Saya’s eyes. Disoriented, her feet faltered. Her jaw popped. Toya drove her knee into Saya’s face. Saya crashed violently into the wall. The jagged stones jabbed her shoulder.

“I see now…” Saya painfully moved her mouth, as saliva dripped from it. “You’re being forced to do this. You’re really strong, Ms. Toya.”

“...” She aimed her blade forward, locking into position. “It’s time we end this.”

Saya stood up slowly from the rubble, dragging her scimitar. Her bones cracked as she went into a forward stance. Kwazhak taught her the skills needed to survive this far. She couldn’t stay trapped in her little bubble forever. Her father taught her the basics of the sword, and L taught her to use sahar spells. She knew more that was weaker than everyone else. Jun, Mouka, and Jose, they could do far more practical spells then she ever could. Suruj and Tvuj were on another level. So many innocent people died. Kwazhak’s bodyguard, Khouw, the kind Al-Wa soldier, Conghuong, and her friends.

“Mayin Skrastreg,” Toya’s sword glowed. In a blink she closed in on Saya. Saya brought the scimitar up to her forehead. One stroke, two halves.

“Mahou Ryoubun.”

The two of them were engulfed in the abyss. As if reality disappeared. The strange domain L used in the past. Toya stopped her attack. The Guoren flute sang. Saya launched from behind. Toya deflected hit after hit. Saya went on the offensive. Parries became mere sparks. A duel of fireworks. Saya yelled as loud as her jaw could open. The scimitar snapped in two.

She felt a pluck. At that moment, she stopped. She looked down to see the curved sword in her chest. She gargled up blood, dropping her sword. Saya clasped the sword with her bare hand.

“Ms. Toya… You can change your meaning in this world. Together we can change the history of this world…”

Toya stepped back to see her other arm extended out on Toya’s neck. The blade that was broken, however, had the blunt side used. Toya grabbed Saya’s shirt and brought her close.

“So you had no intention of defeating me? You didn’t hate me for all the things I’ve done?...” She shook Saya while the sword was still impaled in her.

“How could I? When I’m aware of what you’ve been through…”

Toya prepared to strangle her. But each time the hands tightened around Saya’s neck, she paused. Saya already felt her mind fleeting. She couldn’t hear the music. It was the first time she saw Toya hesitate. She fell into her arms.

A massive energy beam came falling from the sky. Quickly Toya shielded Saya, but it was going to make contact.

“Dihu Baohu.”

A giant sahar shield formed above them, as a man dropped down from above. He covered both of them with his arms, as the sonic blast pierced their eardrums. When the attack was fully absorbed, the man let go. He wore a traditional red and black hanfu, and the straw hat was gone as unbound black hair flowed freely.

“Izdaha, was it? I bestow thee the honorary title of ‘Hou’, and Ayai Toya ‘Gong’. From now on, the people of As-Z̆onghu̐a shall address thee as ‘Hou Yizi’ and ‘Gong Dongye’,” Laoyuang Zhenbyoung announced to them, “And thou shalt address me as Zhen.”

“You’re…” Toya couldn’t speak, while holding Saya in her arms. The Crown Prince stood before them, his back rigid and the wind facing him. The spotlights shut off.

“I’ve come to liberate Dineh Kazaàd ‘Autónoma from the KWKK. Hou Yizi has done a magnificent job, so rest assured,” He began to walk forward, looking at the person that tried to kill Saya and Toya. “Qiemi ‘Chiyo’ Khaylshad.”