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Nicole

A blast of mana straight downward propelled Nicole far into the air, allowing her to easily evade Madeline's charge.

She landed soundlessly, atop the tallest standing wall-section of the building Avenger had gutted.

Nicole looked down at the ground, a dozen meters away from the base of her perch. At the spot where the focused, a red dot appeared among the snow. She slowly turned, surveying the rest of the battlefield, and the red dot extended into a line, following her gaze, until  a massive circle had been drawn on the field.

Perhaps it was only an optical illusion, but the circles seemed to pulse, rhythimcally, outwards and inwards. A heartbeat.

BOOM

A figure appeared, at the base of the wall. Avery, wielding his spear-staffs, his shirt emblazoned with a massive red heart insignia. Lancer.

BOOM

A second figure, shoulder-to-shoulder with the first. Will, already holding a half-dozen canisters ready to fire. Archer.

BOOM

A third, this one glowing more intensely than the first two. A tall woman, gray hair blowing freely in the wind. Zoraya Krauss. Caster.

BOOM

A fourth figure, which had used the head of Maria's statue as a catalyst, appeared as Maria's full-body form, atop a floating, flickering red cube of pure mana. Rider.

The next BOOM-BOOM was loud enough that the wall shuddered, but Nicole stood completely unaffected, although she squinted from the strain of the spell. Even with her incalculable newfound powers, that one had been difficult. A double-summon.

Nicholas Hemingway. Rather than stock-still and disciplined as the others, he stood casually, one hand in a pocket, the other leaning against the wall. He raised an eyebrow at the scene arrayed before him. Berserker, and Assassin.

BOOM

The remnants of Muramasa's army, a fraction of the original but still vastly outnumbering the Clubs which remained, formed ranks behind these new servants. Sabers.


"Kill."

The Lancer of hearts, stronger and faster than he'd ever been in life, charged forward to battle Robin. The Archer began firing explosive and incendiary canisters, in Kirin and Hera's direction. The Caster opened a barrage of elemental spells at Henri. The Rider floated towards Anne in a bouncing, unpredictable pattern. The Sabers spread, some charging towards Jack while others attempted to surround Kirin and Hera.

Nicholas Hemingway made a few seconds' eye contact with Cody Lazarus. "Missed me?" He finally questioned.

Nicole Hemingway glared at Madeline, and her key glimmered with malice.

"You are a monster I will put down personally."

Nicole

A summoned wind, powerful enough to push away even the freshly fallen snow, expanded centrally from Nicole's figure, pushing Madeline back and exposing a circle of brown dirt beneath the snow. Her eyes stared forward, not at any particular person, but merely ahead.

"Enough." Seemingly a multitude of voices were emitted at once from her mouth, each a slightly different cadence, but all high and clear. She spoke like a church choir, only in a much harder tone.

The command seemed to infiltrate the snow around her, as it arose into a cylindrical barrier around her, and hardened immensely.

"Muramasa Senji. You have served me well. As your Master, I command you: Don the moniker of Saber of Hearts and vanquish all who stand before you."

The command seal, backed by an incalculable quantity of pure magical energy, seemed to overwhelm the servant, as if she had received a command from Ruler himself. Expression darkening, she lunged forward, slashing her blade with renewed vigor and beheading two of his summoned assistants in a single strike.

The ice wall surrounding Nicole shattered, and the enchanted shards shot towards Madeline in unison.

Hera

This power… I can do so much with this mana. Hera shook her head, No! I must destroy this key and end the cycle!

Hera…Think of all you could change…Think of all you want in the world…You can have it now that you have me.

…I could become a powerful mage.

You could do more than that.

Could I…bring someone back to life?

Most certainly...You could even make someone fall in love.

Hera looked up at Kirin who had placed a hand on her shoulder. I…could?

With that dead girl out of your way, it would be simple enough.

Dead girl? Suddenly, all the memories of the past few hours returned. Riza…

So that’s what her name was.

Riza died for this war to end.

She was in between you and him. Now she’s gone, and you have him all to yourself.

…I’m afraid you don’t understand. She will not have died in vain. Hera ignored the tear that rolled down her cheek. She pulled the dagger out of her shoulder without so much as a word.

What are you doing?

Ending this war. Hera let the key fall to the ground. The flames fought against the white snow, beating it back. Hera lifted the dagger above her head, preparing to strike.

What about your mother?

Hera’s grip on the dagger loosened.

You will never win her approval.

Hera’s grip tightened once more around the hilt of the dagger. With tears streaming down her face, the female stabbed the key. Even with your power, I doubt I ever could.

Anne

A solid rock key hovered in the air right in front of her. A metal chain went around it a few times, giving some contrast to the dull stone.

It looks powerless, this is what we've fought to destroy? What can it do? One more question lingered in her mind, one she didn't dare to ask... not because of the question, but because of what the answer could be.

She reached out and grabbed it. As she touched the surprisingly smooth surface, small sparks of red, orange, yellow, and white bounced off the surface. Once holding it, she realized that this simple object had power. Without power, that small of an item would have little mass, but this... it felt heavy somehow.

Everyone, listen! We have to defeat her to win this for good, but we HAVE to destroy her key first, or else all of this will have been for nothing. Stay on your guard

Well I just have defense right now, no chance of attacking for at least half an hour because of low mana but I have a dog... Saber's got to deal with Muramasa now, but if he wins than we have that.

Hera

Everyone, listen! We have to defeat her to win this for good, but we HAVE to destroy her key first, or else all of this will have been for nothing. Stay on your guard! Cody sent through the mental link, but Hera heard nothing.

The flames caressed Hera’s hand as she held her piece of the key. She paid little mind to the agonizing pain in her shoulder and leg as she watched the fire dance with the chilling winter breeze. It’s so…beautiful. The sheer unrestrained power of it held her gaze as it continued it’s performance. It’s so…deadly.