GRACE OF THE SKY

Thalia suddenly felt overbearing pressure dawn on her and, instead of chasing after hurt Hylana, she quickly retreated backwards. Just a blink later, at the spot she hovered, space tore open like a gigantic maw, swallowing itself. Glancing down, she spotted a roughly-dressed man glaring at her while he caught Hylana’s bloodied body.

“… he’s strong,” she mumbled, knitting her brows. “This will be difficult…”

However, just as she was about to summon yet another spear and descend, she felt a gentle hand grab her shoulder and stop her. Startled, she quickly turned around and saw a familiar face smiling at her. Lynne hovered next to her, donned in edgeless shadows, his hair standing up and wavering gently like fire.

“… what the hell are you doing here?” Thalia asked, sighing. “Don’t tell me you defeated your opponent already.”

“Hell no,” Lynne said, shaking his head. “I can’t even smell that old geezer’s fart from up close.”

“… then why are you here?”

“To help you guys out, why else?!” Lynne said, smiling widely. “So we can go clean house together.”

“…”

“Anyway, Parsia is in a slight pinch,” Lynne said. “Go help him.”

“Why don’t you help him instead?”

“Because you’ve exhausted too much Mana,” he said. “You can’t fight him.”

“… ugh, fine,” Thalia said, grunting. “Don’t die.”

“Count on it.”

Sending her off, Lynne’s smile disappeared as he focused downward on Grath who stared right back while also giving immediate treatment to Hylana. Lynne slowly descended but he didn’t attack, stopping a dozen meters or so from the two, casually glancing over them.

“… where’s your Dragon?” Grath asked, sneering.

“Is your best course of action really to provoke me right now?” Lynne asked, smiling lightly. “You do realize that, if I decide to attack, she’ll die.”

“Oh? You don’t think I can protect her?” Grath asked, frowning.

“You’re a master of Space,” Lynne said, shaking his head. “How can you protect her? She’s practically listless at the moment.”

“… then why are you giving me the courtesy of time?” Grath asked again. “Isn’t it in your best interest to take care of us quickly?”

“… you could say I’m somewhat sentimental,” Lynne said, his smile carrying a faint hint of sorrow. “Besides, she can’t fight any longer. Whether dead or live… it has no impact on the outcome of this battle.”

“You’re pretty confident in that woman’s Magic.”

“… why are you fighting a losing battle anyway?” Lynne asked. “By now, you should have realized you can’t win.”

“… you don’t know that.” Grath said calmly and confidently.

“… well, to each their own. She should be fine now. Take her away.”

“N-no…” Hylana’s faint voice startled Grath as Lynne glanced over curiously.

“Oh, she regained consciousness?” Lynne mumbled.

“Y-you’re… K-king Lynne, right?” Hylana asked, coughing out a mouthful of black blood as she regained her footing in the air with Grath’s support.

“… and you’re dying,” Lynne said casually. “Should you really be asking me stuff right now?”

“… I-it doesn’t m-matter,” she said, smiling bitterly. “Both you and I know that my fate is sealed.”

“What?!” Grath exclaimed in shock, staring at her.

“… you were right, I’m King Lynne,” he said after a short pause, looking at her pitifully. “You’ve heard of me?”

“… s-shouldn’t King be protecting h-his country? W-why are you here?” she asked, her voice growing fainter.

“… protecting my country, huh? Probably, yeah. But, in the end, no matter how strong the King is, people ought to know how to protect themselves.” Lynne said.

“…” Hylana stared at him for a moment, her eyes glimmering. Space suddenly tore open as she disappeared, reappearing in front of Lynne, a thick sword in her hands. She struck forward, piercing right through the left side of Lynne’s abdomen. The sword went right through, causing blood to spill out slowly. Lynne, on the other hand, didn’t even twitch, merely gazing at her pitifully. Grath watched from afar, doing and saying nothing, his eyes array of complex emotions. “D-does it hurt?” she asked weakly, her fragile body leaning against his chest.

“…” he said nothing, stretching his free arm and supporting her weak body. “It will leave a mark.” he said casually.

“G-good… s-so I h-helped…” she mumbled, her breath growing weaker. “C-can I ask for a f-favor?”

“…” Lynne remained silent, sensing her body growing limper.

“… I-I wish to d-die by the h-hands of a K-king,” she mumbled weakly. “W-who trusts his p-people.”

“…” Lynne sighed, stretching his arm out whereupon a scythe appeared in it. “Recently, I’ve grown tired of saying it,” he mumbled, lowering his head. “But, you’ve fought well.”

“…”

“You’re name is Hylana, right?” Lynne asked, rising his scythe.

“… yeah…” a barely audible voice escaped her already chilling lips.

“I’ll remember it.” he said faintly, pushing her away and slashing down. However, scythe’s blade didn’t touch her, just the faintest energy of Mana, which was enough to extinguish whatever little remained of her life.

Her body remained floating in the air, lips curled up in a faint smile amidst the bloodied craze. Lynne gently shoved her toward Grath who took her body, his face distorted slightly. Gently stroking her head for a moment, he tore open the space next to him and put her inside, remaining silent all throughout. Meanwhile, Lynne took out a sword lodged inside his abdomen, but left the wound bleeding.

“… aren’t you gonna heal?” Grath asked coldly.

“… no need,” Lynne replied casually. “She gave the last ounce of her strength to inflict this wound. Consider it her parting gift to you.”

“… you don’t know me, or her, or any one of us,” Grath shouted lowly. “Why do all this?!”

“Why?” Lynne took off his robes and bloodied shirt, leaving him topless. “Despite the risks involved, the first thing you did was to try and heal her. While your side was still losing, your first priority was her. Yet, I didn’t hear anyone voice a complaint. And, instead of living to see at least the end of this battle, she plunged right at me. She knew nothing she did would harm me, or do anything to change the outcome of this battle. Yet, she did it nonetheless.” Lynne said, looking down at the still bleeding wound. “You can say that I have a soft spot for morons like you guys.”

“… you’re just a child, then,” Grath said, sneering. “Showing mercy towards your enemies… feeling sympathy… you’re much more of a coward than I expected.”

“Coward, huh?” Lynne said, looking back up at Grath. “What’s wrong with sympathizing with you guys? Are you not humans? People with hopes, dreams and aspirations just like me? Turning you guys into some form of enigma just so I don’t feel bad about killing you… wouldn’t that even be more cowardly? If I’m forced to kill, I may as well take it all in.”

“… and that’s why, even if you win this battle, you’ll lose the war.” Grath said, chuckling as he spread his arms wide. “Soldier with compassion is a liability, his heart easily swayed. As I said, you’re just a child who’s yet to see the truth of his ideals. Allow me to open your eyes then.” Lynne casually glanced at him and raised his hand abruptly; space above him shattered as a bleeding, black form fell from it.

“I never said I’m an idiot though.” Lynne said, smiling widely as Grath frowned. The former threw the scythe over his shoulder as gentle wind blew by him, causing his hair to sway sideways. “Show me your resolve.”

“…”

Lynne flashed forward, spinning through air as he gathered momentum, his scythe immediately catching on fire, burning brightly. Crossing the distance between the two in a flash, he finally straightened up and swiped downward. Grath disappeared as his body molded into space, causing the scythe’s swipe to hit nothing. Without a pause, Lynne immediately shifted his body sideways as he stretched out his free arm. Elongated shadow stretched out from the palm of his hand upward. Just as Grath reappeared several dozen meters away, he spotted the patch of darkness aimed at him.

Clicking his tongue, he disappeared again as he caused space to rapture, turning into invisible spikes as they stretched toward Lynne. The latter brandished the scythe with both of his hands and spun, causing flames to erupt outwardly like a tsunami, burning away the air itself. As he halted, without wasting any momentum, he coated his feet in flames and burst forth, leaving behind a magnificent arc of light.

Reappearing, Grath noticed a figure bolting toward him; however, instead of disappearing again, his muscles bulged as he took out a gigantic sphere. Cyan in color, it shimmered in light azure as it spun around like a planet. Suddenly, gravity around him increased a thousandfold, causing Lynne’s body to plummet downward. Without hesitation, Grath guided the sphere as it broke apart into a thousand smaller ones. Each spread around the sky as they began shooting arrays of blinding light toward Lynne.

In turn, Lynne cast ‘Pyre’ as his entire body got coated in black, Hellfire Flames. Pushing out Mana relentlessly into his body, he finally regained his footing and resisted the force of gravity. Landing on the crumbled earth beneath, he immediately burst forth upward, causing a massive crater to appear where his feet used to be as his body took to sky.

As arrays of light were about to reach him, he de-summoned his scythe, making it reappear as a giant above him. The scythe vibrated, sending ripples through the space, as it began slashing around as though it had a mind of its own while Lynne easily bypassed massive explosions.

Seeing this, Grath clicked his tongue and reassembled the sphere once more. Splitting it halfway, the sphere screeched like a wounded beast as crimson droplets faded off its edges. Its spin changed to vertical, like two massive wheels, as they flanked scythe from both sides, suppressing it.

One array of light finally landed on Lynne, piercing right through his shoulder and leaving a bloody hole. However, as though nothing had happened, he didn’t even slow down as he finally reached Grath and stretched his arm forward, grabbing him by the collar. The latter caused space to contort, using Lynne’s forward momentum against him as the two bounced backward separately like kites. Lynne, still ablaze, cast ‘Pyre’ once more as flames began devouring everything around him in a sphere-like fashion.

Black burned horridly in the sky, emitting cries of the dead in the process, as Grath bent the space yet again and shifted through the flames, arriving next to Lynne. In addition to him, slightly behind, was a strange object resembling a steering wheel of a ship. It was coated in golden luster and constantly spinning as it emitted threads of glimmering light outward like spiderweb.

The threads surrounded Lynne and tried to pin him down. As a reply, Lynne’s body suddenly turned edgeless and morphed into a bodyless shadow, escaping right through the threads. He circled Grath in such fashion, his shadow constantly wavering, as he materialized behind the wheel and struck at it with a Chakram he summoned.

As the two weapons collided, a massive explosion followed which sucked in surrounding space, nearly tearing Lynne’s skin off in the process. However, at the pinnacle, it blew outward, crashing the fabric surrounding it and sending both Grath and Lynne flying on opposite direction, both leaving trails of black smoke behind as they flew. Lynne had part of his chest pierced open to the bone, while Grath’s entire right arm was blown right off. At that moment, Grath realized that he can’t win; his opponent wasn’t even using any special spell arts, mainly resorting to usage and control of flames, while Grath had all but gone out at this point. Still, he couldn’t escape. He not only carried Hylana’s last wish, but even the lives of others currently here. If Lynne was to beat him and join elsewhere, this battle would be immediately ended.

“… all out, huh… well, let’s see…” he mumbled as a strange smile appeared on his face.

Suddenly halting forcibly, his entire body shuddered as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Not even bothering to wipe it, he began gathering enormous amounts of Mana at the palms of his hands as space around him began rippling and wiggling outward. Seeing this, Lynne frowned and forcibly halted as well, attaining some internal injuries. He had already summoned his scythe back into his hand, and stood frozen watching for a moment.

“T-that’s…” the Spirit’s voice echoed inside Lynne’s mind in alarm, causing his frown to deepen.

“That’s what?” Lynne mumbled.

“If I’m not wrong, that’s a quasi-Primordial Art…” the Spirit said.

“… and? Am I supposed to know what the fuck that means?” Lynne grunted.

“It’s slightly less powerful than your own Empyrean Entropy – the spell that literally ended a battle,” the Spirit said. “So, if I were you, I’d take this seriously now. Ah, although quasi-Primordial Arts are relatively common, especially among the talented, his seems to be above average.”

“Then what about mine?” Lynne asked casually.

“Yours should be an actual Primordial Art,” the Spirit scoffed. “How you managed to do that… I’ll never know.”

“… ‘s that so? Well, you said it the best,” Lynne said, smiling lightly as he brandished his scythe tightly. “I better start taking this seriously.”

“Reaping,” the scythe disappeared and appeared above him, three times its original size, reaching nearly three hundred meters in length. “Darkness and Light~” he mumbled as Skyfire and Hellfire flames wrapped themselves around scythe’s shaft. “Eternal Equilibrium.”