(23.3) The 7th Crown
Aki gasps for air on her hands and knees before looking up at the undead.
"What about the people of the city?" Aki presses. "You said you isolated this place? That sounds to me like you committed a whole lot of murder before you ever even attacked New Pinacca. Did they have anything to do with what happened to you?"
"Collateral damage." Vira hisses. "That's how war works. There are liabilities and weaknesses to everything. Not everyone that dies is going to be your target."
"That's bullshit! So because this world treated you as disposable, you're treating everyone else that way?" Aki shouts, anger crawling up her spine. "What do you gain from living like that? Because to me, that just sounds like a miserable way to spend your life."
"Doesn't matter now." Vira begins to laugh as she and Aki start to get pulled closer still to the black hole spell. "My body is torn to pieces and even if I took your body now, this black hole has grown too far to be reasonably controlled anymore. I'll die! And I'll take everything with me."
A wind shield rapidly takes shape just below the black hole, reducing some of the pull and blocking many of the bodies and preventing people outside Vira's barrier from being swept into the void.
"Dent!" Aki dares to flash a smile. There are still people out there trying to do something against the spell.
Her body drops back down a little, barely gripping onto the stones with the tips of her toes. Though it does nothing against pulling Aki ever closer to the gashadokuro.
Yet the shield lasts only a few seconds as the black hole grows bigger as it begins to eat up the wind, forcing even more magic to flow into it in a cycle of growth and feeding.
Even with this external battle of magic and endless gluttony, the wind doesn't prevent Vira from being pulled closer and finally into the air. Her body is missing too much mass to not be sucked upward.
Or is Vira letting herself get pulled in?
"No you don't!" Aki lets go of her grip to the ground and bounds toward Vira. "Pay for the consequences of your actions in front of everyone! Don't just decide things on your own!"
The two women rise higher with increasing speed, zooming toward the gashadokuro. Their fates, practically sealed. That is, until a piece of a building's arch too large for the current suction is flung in front of their path, perfectly hooking itself along the underside of the gashadokuro's jaw.
One side along the arch seems deliberately altered. Creating an additional safety measure with how it has been fashioned to make several stone pillars between the two women and the black hole itself.
"How did that… — Phoebe?" Eyes wide, Aki bites her cheek and looks over her shoulder then back at Vira who is quickly flying out of reach.
Aki doesn't have the luxury to consider the options too deeply and throws a hand out to Vira. She grabs hold of what remains of Vira's left hand with her right and hooks herself onto the furthest part of the arch from the disastrous spell.
Now there was more in the way to protect them from being swallowed up by the devastating spell.
"VIRA!" Aki grits her teeth and digs her heels into the brickwork. "You won't die like this!"
Even a mangled body such as Vira's was no light weight against the pull of a burgeoning black hole. Still, Aki refuses to let go.
Vira laughs, a short barking laugh and aims a vicious sneer down at Aki. "What, do you truly believe that saving me will make me feel bad, like some sort of storybook?"
"I—and everyone else here—will die." Vira snarls. "Take your idealistic fantasies somewhere else. Oh wait, you'll be annihilated alongside me!"
"Shut up!" Aki tightens her grip on Vira's burned wrist. The flesh feels like fragile leather rubbing against bone beneath her hand. "I'm not naive enough to want to save you for a stupid reason like that! You've killed so many people and I will make you face justice. The right way."
Vira blinks, her curled lips crest downward and what remains of her brows falling into a bemused interest.
"Maybe that's just an excuse." Aki pulls against the might of the black hole, bringing Vira closer to herself. "You know I'm an otherworlder, but unlike you, I've only been in this world for a little while. I seriously don't want to die but I don't want to kill either! So I'm sorry but no matter how much of a monster you are, I know there's good in there somewhere!"
Again, Vira laughs, now in disbelief. The stringent audacity to say such a thing as that while in front of an all-consuming spell and endless corpses below stunned her.
"Even after all I've done, there is no other end. Even if you save me here, I'll still be executed!" Vira throws her head back, her weight shifting as a lower section of the arch breaks away, revealing the black hole had grown even bigger. "How foolish for you to go so far for allies you know nothing about and an enemy you know even less. All you're doing is delaying the end."
"I don't care what you say!" Aki grits her teeth. Her legs strain against the stone as the pull of gravity increases. "You're right. I'm hungry, I'm tired, and I know nothing about these people. But they were in trouble. Even if they hadn't asked, I'd help them anyway!"
Vira bares her teeth. Her emotions flare and mana within the remains of her body swirl in contention to Aki's words before subsiding. Whatever inner battle she was having appears to give ground.
Aki narrows her eyes, certainty on her tongue. "I know you're scared. You don't want to die as much as I do. I felt your heart when I mentioned justice. Even if it's a little bit longer, you would rather die giving them what you never got than die here."
"I am their enemy. Killing me would be exactly what they seek. Whether it's execution or in battle." Vira states blankly, her focus shifting to where Aki holds onto her wrist. She blinks.
A flood of confused emotions in turmoil hit Aki suddenly. An intense rage howling for vengeance batters a sentimentality that had been building since the first attempt to read Vira's memories. With how intense they are, Aki can feel it more clearly. The anger within Vira's heart is powerful. Extreme. Yet it feels foreign as well. Different from the other emotions awash in Vira's head.
Green flames spark around Vira's body as the anger builds. At the same time, more of the arch breaks apart, lessening the footholds and walls to the black hole even more.
"One more push of my gift." Aki is now in a better position and is able to reach and take hold of Vira with both hands. "I'm sorry but I need this."
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[Gift Activated: Empath]
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Images flash quickly by. Plain glass towers and metal carriages appear. A strange airship – no, a plane — soars through the sky. Passages within catacombs. An underground city with a spire dominating the space. The ruins from before. A cold, stone table. Blood and scalpels. A rundown room full of garbage on Earth. Words Aki cannot read carved into the walls. The sunlight in a forest. A shrine and a person in a black cloak to the side, beckoning to a sealed urn holding a brilliant green flame.
Anger flashes again and fire burns Aki's hands. The anger lasts for a brief moment before being pushed aside by Vira's sense of sorrow. Her true self.
The pain nearly causes Aki to let go but she grinds her teeth and maintains her perseverance. Whatever emotions linger in Vira's past, Aki refuses to sway.
"I…" Vira starts.
More of the arch is devoured by the spell, leaving only one more spot to grab onto should it be needed.
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[Gift Activated: Precognition]
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"NO!" Aki tries to correct her footing but it's not possible with Vira's weight and the bricks she stands on are torn away. The two women are rapidly pulled in.
She throws her arm out and latches onto the fragile ledge between life and death and continues holding onto Vira's arm with the other. Her muscles strain from the pressure and she could feel her bones cracking aggressively
Her mind spins, ideas swarming but coming up empty. If only she had SP for the passive skill [Tactician] to activate then maybe she would have a plan. Unfortunately, without SP, all the passive can do is assist her natural decision making skills.
"Fucking stars! Is there no way to stop it?" Aki looks desperately at Vira. "Please, at least do this much."
Vira meets Aki's desperate look with her own. Green embers build and vanish into the black hole as quickly as they form. The fire a burst of light before vanishing to the gravity. Her eyes–battered though her face is–looks a little different now. The acid green light that made them shine has subsided into an amber colour faintly lit by green.
"Ye-yes." Vira shouts back then looks over her shoulder.