1

Sayaka Uehara slowly awoke to the sound of dripping water. On and on it went, like a symphony meant to give away the location of the place she landed on.

What a pain.

She grumbled while her vision gradually adjusted to the darker surroundings. She shook her head a bit before a nearby manhole snapped her awake. She stepped back with much caution before hitting her back on a wall.

When a screeching noise reached her ears, she instinctively swung her sword to the side, gutting the Nullity appearing from the wall and slicing it open. The dripping of its remains coincided with the creaking sound of a nearby water source.

That Arata… Did I fall from way up there? How long has it been?

She tilted her head upwards, seeing a large hole on the ceiling, before turning back to the decently large hole near her. She can only wonder how high she fell from and how deep this hole was. Had it not been for the enhanced physical abilities that came with being an Awakener, she was positive that she could have dislocated something now.

Most importantly, where’s her opponent?

She decided to push those thoughts away, to forget them as they won’t contribute to her current goal. Bottomline was that he’s gone for now, and she can proceed to navigate this maze and find her way to the control room.

The craggy footing and the rough walls surrounding her gave the place a look of a large cavern with underground rivers: one that created a stark contrast to the peak of technology which was the Elysium Complex that once stood above it.

Whereas the tunnels and passages above were lit by bright lights, this place had to settle with dim wall lamps and the crystal shards reflecting light for vision.

Still, given some fixing and modernization, and this place may very well have reminded her of the Fragment where she re-encountered Kazuki and Sana. She had seen it all: Sana awakening her powers, Arata bravely fighting off the Magna Arbiter, and…

Her tongue clicked as she gritted her teeth as the thoughts of that person just kept coming back to her.

Why can’t he get it through that thick skull of his? After all I did, after all I said?

In frustration, she slammed the wall with the side of her fist, completely dumbfounded. She took a deep breath and tried to refocus as she followed the path forward. She couldn’t be too far down from the surface.

The connected cavern rooms looked practically identical to one another, and she hastily trudged through those without much issue. In the end of it all, she reached a room that’s larger than usual.

It was just as dimly lit as the previous rooms. However, this area’s layout was a lot more irregular, causing more shadows perfect for an ambush.

Where one may expect a room like this to be perfectly housing a large Nullity, there was a cool breeze that created a calming presence. As to where the breeze was coming from, Uehara was unsure, but it gave her a hint that she was slowly but surely approaching the surface.

Since there were no Nullities, she proceeded to move past the room like nothing. It was so, until she heard a voice.

“Uehara, I finally found you.”

Uehara froze in her tracks. The voice echoed and bounced off the walls of the cavern. She was not able to locate its source at first, but she kept her hand on her sword.

Slowly, Amagi walked out of one of the looming shadows, the dim natural lights illuminating her tender facial features.

“I thought I told you all to leave.”

“You know we can’t do that.”

“Why?”

Uehara stepped back in one stiff motion, her tense face staring down at Amagi’s worried one.

“We’ve always stood in front of you, Uehara. We’ve all made mistakes, and we failed to understand your grief. But!”

Amagi held onto her Armament, and from her peripheral vision, Uehara saw an arrowhead slowly forming on the ornamental bow.

“We’ve always tried to reach out to you. All that, even as you try to tear everything apart, even as you try to tear everyone around you to pieces.”

“Ah, so it’s another one of those friendship speech things where you cry over and tell me you can’t leave me? About how I was an important part of the group so much that you can’t just let me be?”

Through the glint of the dim lighting, Uehara can see Amagi’s eyes light up before wavering at her next words.

“Stop it. Don’t pretend you know everything, Amagi. Do you even hear yourself right now? Can’t you see that you’re ready to point your weapon at me? Perhaps it’s your own instincts taking over, now that you know you’re face-to-face with a dangerous person.”

“How naïve.”

A cold wave washed over Uehara’s entire body, sending chills down her spine as she realized she now looked at a girl who had an arrow pointed at her.

“Y-you…” the startled Uehara spoke.

“Did you really just intended to hurt Arata and not face the consequences? Did you think that you can just tell us to leave, coat it under a hypocritical act of caring for us, before running away?”

“Amagi, you…”

“Ms. Sadohara took you in, and you pushed her and what she stood for aside without a second thought. Just like you did with Arata. Then you can just join hands with Euphoria just because of what?”

Uehara snapped. “Shut up. You don’t know—“

“I may not know your grief, but after what you did a while ago, I know that what you did was also wrong. I have to stop you before you destroy our group, before you destroy yourself!” berated Amagi.

“You think I wanted to fight you? Fine, suit yourself!” shouted Uehara, who charged without hesitation.

In one swift motion, Uehara slashed her sword upwards, just deflecting the single shot that Amagi fired at her. With the impact of the Armaments lighting up the area more brightly than usual, she saw a clear glimpse of Amagi’s shocked face.

“Making me pay for what I did, you say?” Uehara’s voice was cold as she closed the gap between her and Amagi in a little over a second. “I didn’t think you had it in you, Amagi. I always thought you were a softie.”

She said that with a tinge of snark before smacking Amagi aside with the back of her sword. As the brunette stumbled, Uehara maintained her previous distance, looking at her carefully.

Granted, she knew that she had told a lie. She of all people knew what this girl was like deep down. And she knew her words wouldn’t do the job of rattling her as much as she hoped.

“Unfortunately, I am serious about this, if Arata hadn’t made it clear enough for you. I have found the lone path to my desire, and the future I desire doesn’t involve any of you.”

She pointed her sword at the stunned Amagi, who slowly got back to her feet with her Armament.

“Ms. Sadohara’s intentions and mine cannot ever cross paths. That is why I wanted that meeting to mark my farewell with all of you.”

“Even after everything?”

“I wanted to leave you as amicably as possible, but it’s becoming less and less possible with each passing moment.”

“Of course it is! Uehara, we were careless. If only we knew…”

“It’s too late!” snapped Uehara, and along the way, a single tear burst out of her squinted eyes. “Izaya is well on his way to the top of Babel now, and there’s no longer any hope of stopping him. If you want to drill it in my head that it’s all my fault, I’ll admit it! Happy now?”

“You’re wrong.”

Uehara sighed, “What makes it so hard to understand? I did… and still have the desire to give the Akashic Records a chance. I did what I had to do, and we’ve gone past the point of trying to stop Izaya. The most you can do is pack your bags and get away before all hell gets unleashed in this complex.”

“That’s not it.”

In one swift motion, Amagi drew her bow and pointed another arrow straight at her opponent.

“What I’m saying is that it’s never too late. You always had choices, Uehara!”

She fired off an energy arrow which Uehara nimbly dodged.

More magical arrows soared through the air, each of them flying in an arching path. Uehara, forced to dodge, hopped from left to right, avoiding the arrows as they left trails of magical energy on the cavern floor.

“How stubborn!” Uehara grinded her teeth as she leaped forward, her sword at the ready. “I don’t need your help anymore.”

She swung it horizontally, aiming for Amagi’s body and her bow, but she missed her mark by a hair. Amagi had dodged it by hopping backwards and was in the motion of readying another shot. Uehara likewise had her defensive motions ready, and she wasted no time springing back to re-establish position.

The whirling sound of the arrow pierced Uehara’s ears as it grazed her, striking a wall but not before scratching her shoulder.

“I know you’re the type who becomes exceptionally stubborn if you’ve made up your mind, so I’m not surprised.”

Amagi drew her bow again, this time summoning multiple arrows before firing them off in a spread shot.

“Tch!” Uehara grunted as she deflected some of the arrows with her sword.

More shots came after her, and she circled around the area while dodging the barrage.

“Takes one to know one,” taunted Uehara, who made a sharp turn and headed straight for Amagi.

Seeing this, Amagi bent her knees and fortified her position, aiming an arrow straight at Uehara.

However, this was all part of the black-haired girl’s plan. By baiting Amagi into a stationary position and a focused shot, she can easily turn the tables on her.

She kept her eyes on the shining arrowhead as she prepared her legs. The whole sequence took place in a span of a few seconds, but for Uehara’s pinpoint focus, it was more than ample time for her to react.

At the last second, she pushed herself off the ground, her legs giving their all in that vertical leap.

“Huh?”

The look of surprise was evident in Amagi’s face, and she failed to react in time to Uehara crashing down on her.

The impact of her landing blew her away, and she landed hard on her back.

On the other hand, Uehara had all the momentum, and with it, raised her sword over her head.

“Get lost!” she shouted.

She charged confidently, confident in her win against her outmatched opponent. However, when her eyes laid upon Amagi’s, she only saw fire and an unwavering spirit in the brunette’s facial expression.

She felt the grip on her sword loosen, but it was still enough to have her deliver the downward swing.

Instead of connecting with the finishing blow, she found her blade stopped by Amagi’s bow. The brunette had held it up as a defensive measure. A desperate one, but nonetheless effective.

“Don’t underestimate me!” shouted Amagi. Right on cue, the two Armaments were caught in a violent surge of magical power. With a boom that shook Uehara’s eardrums, the two Armaments erupted in a burst that sent both of them flying.

Uehara slowly got back to her feet, panting. With a sudden burst of energy, she charged straight at Amagi. The brunette, slower to recover, was easily subdued by the charging Uehara, and in one swift motion, the black-haired girl had her pinned to a wall.

One of Uehara’s hands latched firmly onto her neck as she choked. Still, her teary eyes wouldn’t show any sign of weakness.

She continued holding onto Amagi’s neck with one hand, while her sword started to reappear on the other hand. Her strength, along with the effort of resummoning a broken Armament, was barely able to hold her opponent to the wall, but the sword soon materialized in its complete form.

Her hands trembling, she still pointed the tip of the blade at Amagi.

“I… won’t… give… up…!” gasped Amagi, in spite of the threat of the blade piercing through her face. She gripped and clawed at Uehara’s hand to no avail.

Taking a deep breath, Uehara tightened her grip on the weapon. Her hands, frozen in space, wouldn’t move, and she let out an anguished cry.

It was then that she heard a crunching sound. A second before the pain registered on her left arm, forcing her to release Amagi. She slowly lost her balance along with visual clarity.

It ached.

Her arm, injured by something, cried out, squeezing her own tears out instinctively.

“Damn you!” she screamed before swinging her sword out of impulse.

Her swing was met with resistance that rattled her. However, it would not last long, as her sword easily overpowered the hit.

When her vision cleared once more, she saw that the disabled Amagi was flat on the ground, unmoving. She had been tossed several meters away from her.

In her place was the person she had knocked off with her reckless swing.

Kazuki twitched on the ground, his face reflecting the pain he endured.

His Armament, the transforming shield, disappeared in a burst of energy, having spent the last of its durability blocking the rage-filled slash.

 

2

When he heard the sound of the fighting from some floors above him, he was a hundred percent sure of it. It can be no one else but Uehara, but Kazuki still wondered who the girl could be in battle with.

Aiming to go after the sound that came from several floors above, he hastened his pace.

It was then that more Nullities appeared, peering and sliding out from what seemed like cracks in the walls.

“Out of the way, you pests!”

He put his Armament up and never stopped running. He kept his sight on the direction of the fighting, and the rash blows from his shield arm were nothing more than a distraction for him. He left the downed Nullities behind, not even bothering to check their condition after receiving a drive-by beating from his shield.

His feet burned, his body ached, and his breaths grew tighter amidst the thin air, but he kept running. Past the rough patches, through the uneven terrain, over the small sinkholes that he barely dodged instinctively.

He had a really bad feeling about this. He did not even know how much time had passed since they went down this cavern and how long they were unconscious. All he remembered was his body completely sore and beaten up when he woke up. As he leaned against a wall and his shield Armament, he only assumed that he managed to use it to slide down the same wall instead of going on a free fall.

But that mattered little now. Not when he sensed it so clearly. Something wrong was going on, and he had to find out.

He brushed aside more Nullities as he reached the upper level, and only then did he hear the sound of the fighting. The sound was jumbled and incomprehensible, but he was sure that he heard two female voices amidst the chaos.

It caused his heart to pound harder than before.

“Tsk!”

He ran faster, pushing his body to its limits and rushed as if his life depended on it. Soon, he made his way to a clearing, where he got a vantage view of the fighting.

He arrived just in time to see Uehara charge Amagi before pinning her to the wall, a scene that sent a chill down his spine.

“Assimilator’s Core!” he yelled, transforming the shield into its crossbow form. He placed his hand on top of it, lining up an energy shot. It was a weaker one that did not exude much magical energy, but it was the only one he can produce at this state.

He saw Uehara struggle but succeed at resummoning her sword on her right hand, causing him to aim at Uehara’s left arm. It was the same arm which was holding Amagi in a chokehold, and he went for the shoulder before letting the attack fly.

It struck its mark, freeing Amagi and stunning Uehara.

Still, it didn’t do much more to faze the aggressor. Seeing her bring the sword up once again, Kazuki used the last of his strength to run into the middle of the two girls. In one motion, he pushed Amagi, roughly sending her straight to the floor, and put his shield up to block Uehara’s attack.

The impact of the clash shook his entire body, and he lost control of it as he was sent flying down the ground.

It knocked the wind out of him, and it also marked the last stand of his Armament, which shattered into particles.

With his shield gone and his back against the floor, Kazuki can only stare at the blade that’s pointed towards him.

He had saved Amagi, but at what cost? Regardless, his face didn’t show it.

“This is useless. A complete waste of time, Uehara. Us fighting like this, you pushing yourself away from everyone, you suffering for the sake of chasing a ghost… would your brother really want this?”

Her teary eyes blinked, and in a moment, she screamed before driving the tip of her sword down.