Everything was white.

Everything.

After a while, the whiteness started fading. The brightness faded? No, that wasn’t the right word…

There was nothing.

But He felt something…

Something inside of him…

It was a string, as thin as a hair.

It was a beautiful cyan.

As He watched, it stretched out into the vast expanse of nothingness ahead of him.

Then the impossible happened.

It met another string.

This one was lilac.

The strings touched, then intertwined.

Twirling, growing, thicker, and thicker, and thicker...

Suddenly, He remembered everything. All that had happened up till now. Memories of it, but not just his...

“Shiori, we’ll win this.”

And out of the nothingness:

“Yes, we will, Yuu-kun!”

---

Reality started itself up again from the moment that lasted an eternity.

Time flew once more.

“Sh*t! They could have done it all this time, but they chose to do it now? Whatever! Cinder, flame them before they recover!”

A sea of orange-green flames came forward.

It burnt only empty space.

Whatever He had ever felt before when using body strengthening, he felt it now. But now it felt… sharper, clearer.

Whatever She had felt before whenever she used [Magic], she felt it now. But now it felt… vast, endless.

The flames dissipated, but the two were gone.

The knight and the dragon looked up a moment too late.

Yuudai had tossed Shiori high up onto a rafter before dodging himself.

Acid rained from above.

Orange-green fire clashed against clear fluid briefly, but began to falter.

After all, this time, it was an even match.

Or perhaps, was the [Soul Link] between one pair much stronger than the other?

“Get out!’

The knight was hit squarely in the chest. Not by acid, nor by a long polearm, but by a red, scaly fist.

The flames finally gave way to the deluge of acid.

“Cinder!”

Suddenly, an inferno burst out.

“A few extra burns isn’t going to kill me! Behind you!”

The shield fixed to an arm stump twirled to meet the silvery blade of the Guandao.

The lance and the Guandao clashed once more.

---

“Get down here and fight me, girl!”

“But I refuse.”

“Fine, have it your way!

The wings of the dragon unfurled and flapped themselves, as if readying for one, last charge.

The room was filled with the stench of flesh burning in acid.

“I may die from this, girl, but I’m still taking you down with me! Your acid can’t kill me fast enough!”

A massive burst of flame shot directly upwards.

“That’s true. But your fire can.”

Shiori jumped backwards.

“Wha-”

A massive boom resonated throughout the building.