Ugh, what strength...
Tsuruno thought as she coughed out a dangerous amount of blood. Her whole body was in so much pain that she couldn't even get up from where she was deep in the center of Mount Olympus.
Knees, why do you fail me at such a time?
She addressed her shaking knees, gripping her katana with everything she had as she thought,
I must avenge him. I simply must...
But just as this thought occurred to her, the brown box she hid on her person flew out of her clothes and started emitting a dim glow.
Huh? What's going on?
She wondered, and just as she was about to grab it, the glow intensified, and she found herself sitting in the middle of an unfamiliar space.
"Where... am I?"
She pondered aloud, but the voice that answered her question was the bigger surprise.
"My child, you have come to the end of all things."
Turning to the direction of the voice, she shouted,
"Albius!!"
And started running toward him with all the strength that she could muster. Though she tripped a few times, she was determined to meet and give him a piece of her mind. His eyes were so understanding as she approached, and it made her think,
Those same eyes that seem to see through everything look so gloomy now...
She hesitated and then stopped in front of him, unsure of what to do.
"It's okay. Feel free to hit me if you want. I deserve it..."
Albius said self-deprecatingly.
"T-there's no time for that!"
Tsuruno shot back.
"I'm guessing Shane sent you here as well, didn't he?"
"Ah, no, I got here with the help of this..."
She tried to bring out the box but noticed it had mysteriously disappeared.
So, it's single-use? How very like her...
She thought for a moment before continuing,
"Forget the specifics. I'm here to bring you back!"
Albius gave her an incredulous look and said,
"Once you enter the void, there is no going back. Even I am powerless in a place like this..."
"Well, I won't know until I try!"
Unsteady on her feet, she unsheathed her katana and prepared to cut open a dimensional rift.
"So many things happened while you were gone, Albius. Marcelo betrayed me and joined Lydia's side. Together, they formed a coalition army with the Martians, and..."
She hesitated to tell him this last bit before turning to him and saying with a sorrowful look,
"I've lost some very important people."
With a renewed sense of hope, Albius stood up and smiled confidently, saying,
"If you manage to bring us out, raising a few dead would be the least I could do to repay you..."
With that, Tsuruno raised her katana and shouted with every fiber of her being.
"Dimensional Slice!"
And once she brought her katana down, they were out of the void.
